


Chances I thru IV

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1998-07-31
Updated: 1998-07-31
Packaged: 2018-11-20 14:41:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 55,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11337579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: By Skippy, Alex Jones, Lisby and E. Mulder and Skinner discover not only a physical attraction but romance as well as they chance a relationship.





	Chances I thru IV

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

Changes I: Taking Chances by Alex Jones

From: <>  
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative  
Subject: NEW STORY: TAKING CHANCES BY ALEX JONES  
Date: 18 Mar 1996 20:34:36 GMT  
Rating: NC-17 Slash M/M  
Third Season Spoilers  
Hello. I'm posting this for a friend who is off line so if you want to write you'll have to do so through me. I'll pass the messages along.   
This all started a couple of months ago after I complained to Alex that all the stuff involving two men was about power, and dominance and not love and caring. Don't get me wrong we liked most of it but felt that the other side should be represented as well. So Alex said sounds interesting if I write it will you help and then post it. I said yes so here it is.  
Okay major league warning. This is NC-17.... no ifs ands or buts about it. And it is about a romance between two male X-file characters. So if that sort of thing grosses you out stop now or hold your peace. Feedback is appreciated but please remember that this is Alex's first post so don't be nasty or I'll tell Santa on you.  
Thanks to JL, JO and BA for reading, commenting and encouragement.  
Usual disclaimer. These characters are not mine. They belong to Chris Carter and 1013 Productions and he would probably have a cow if he knew what we did with them. Definitely a large bull calf. No money is being made off of their use. This story may be circulated but please leave the author's name and address attached.

* * *

Chances I: Taking Chances   
by Alex Jones  
Part 1

"I'm sorry, Sir, but because of the floods we are asking everyone to double up. If you and Mr. Mulder would share a room?" 

The last thing Walter Skinner wanted to do was share a room with Fox Mulder. One night would be bad enough, but the way this was shaping up it was going to be two or three days before they would be able to get out. Thanks to a sudden downpour of eight to ten inches of rain within as many hours, the roads were flooded, the airport was closed down indefinitely, and they were trapped in River Grove.

"Do you have a room available with two queen or king sized beds?" Skinner asked. If he was going to have to share he at least wanted to be comfortable. He heard Mulder snort behind him. 'I don't need the grief. I don't need the grief,' he thought to himself. Mulder hadn't wanted to come to this meeting, but Skinner had insisted. As a consequence his agent had been a major shit the last few days. He reminded Skinner of his thirteen year old godson being forced to go on the family vacation. Now, after all the fuss that Mulder had put up, they were going to have to give up one of their rooms and share. 'Great. Just what I need - being cooped up with Mulder for the next couple of days.'

"Since both of your rooms have king sized beds we were hoping that you might give up one of your rooms and share the other." At Skinner's hostile look the desk clerk continued, "I'll check to see if we have anything available."

'Why couldn't it have at least been Embassy Suites so one of us could have taken the couch.' Walter Skinner looked disgusted. 

At his boss' obvious irritation Mulder felt like rubbing salt into the wound. 

He leaned over his boss' shoulder and said quietly, "Don't worry, sir, I promise not to ravish you in the middle of the night."

Skinner turned slightly and shot him a cold look. He'd had more than enough of Mulder's smart mouth, but chewing him out again wasn't going to work. The AD decided on a different course. He turned quickly catching Mulder off guard. Before he could draw away Skinner leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "What makes you think that I find that idea worrisome, Agent Mulder?"

Mulder pulled away so fast and startled that Skinner fought down a laugh. 'Nothing like shaking him up.' Skinner invaded his personal space again and said in a low voice so that only Mulder could hear. "Something the matter? Am I scaring you or turning you on?" 

The smug look on the AD's face irritated Fox Mulder. 'Two can play at that game,' he thought. "Turn on, Sir. Definitely turned on." 

Now it was Skinner's turn to look uncomfortable. He found himself putting his hands in his pants pockets and shifting his feet, hoping that Mulder wouldn't notice his nervousness. He thought to himself, 'You play with fire, Walter, you're going to get burned. If he calls your bluff just how far are you willing to go?' 

That was what really bothered him. He would have liked to take him up on it. Getting involved with a subordinate, especially one of the same sex would cause no end of trouble. The fact that it was Fox Mulder he wanted only added to the problems. His own bisexuality had never really been an issue for him, mostly because he was too private and dedicated an individual to get involved with very many people. The list of his sexual partners was very short. One man, who he'd had a long term relationship with and four, no five women. Two of them had been fairly long term. 

The man had been his partner at work for several years, but after he had been killed Walter made sure that his other sexual relationships were with non-Bureau personnel. His last six year relationship with a woman, Carol, had ended two years ago when she had been transferred to the Japanese office of her company. Neither one had been ready to commit to more than a night together every couple of weeks. He'd never really regretted the decision not to pursue the relationship, realizing that although he liked and respected her he had never really loved her. Their relationship had been based on respect, friendship and physical need. And by the time of her transfer he had been falling for somebody else... a feeling that he had never acted on, had barely acknowledged... until tonight, that is. 

'Fuck, I'm not ready for this. I'm definitely not ready for this.'

Mulder wondered what was up with his boss. Anybody else and he would have figured that he was being flirted with, but Skinner.... naw... couldn't be... could it? It wouldn't be the first time that another man had made a pass. It would, however, be the first time since grad school that he would consider taking a man up on the offer. 'No I started it, he's just fed up... still?' Fox shifted his stance; this situation was making him nervous.

The desk clerk returned. "I've gone over all the queen and king doubles, we don't have many, and they are all occupied by families fleeing the flooding. We do however have a few rooms with two double beds. There is still another evacuation bus yet to arrive." 

Mulder interrupted, "If it's all the same to you, sir, I'd really rather sleep in the king. If I'm going to sleep in a bed I don't want my feet hanging out the end or my head banging the headboard."

Skinner looked at Mulder and nodded. Being tall, he couldn't stand full sized beds either; he always had to sleep at an angle and was never comfortable, every roll and his feet would end up hanging off one side and his hand and arm off the other. Turning to the clerk he replied, "My room's on the top floor and is in a quiet area. We'll keep it and check out of Agent Mulder's room." Mulder, with his normal luck, had gotten a room with the elevator across the hall and the ice machine on the other side. "I don't suppose that you have a bellhop available?"

At the desk clerks apologetic nod of no, Walter turned and shrugged at Mulder. "Come on let's go back to your room and get your things." Turning back to the desk clerk he finished, "We'll be out within the hour and leave the key locked in the room."

"Sir, if you don't mind one of us should run to the grocery store across the street and get some food to keep in the room in case the restaurants close or run out of food." 

"One of us is going to be you. I have no desire to get soaked again and I out rank you."

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." 'Nothing like pulling rank,' Fox thought sarcastically to himself.

At Skinner's nod of agreement Mulder decided to bait his boss one last time. As he handed him the key to his room he leaned in and said, "So should I buy a box of Trojans while I'm at it?"

Skinner looked put out, but was determined not to be out done. "By all means, and don't forget the KY."

Mulder nodded. He shot Skinner a questioning look, but said nothing. Skinner wasn't backing down and he didn't know if he was more worried that the man was serious or that he wasn't. 

  
As Mulder shopped in the grocery store, that was fast becoming a mad house, he wondered what was going on with AD Skinner. The AD wasn't gay, of that he was certain. It was well know that he had been in a long term relationship with a female executive up until she had been transferred a few years back, but could he be bi? Possible. In Skinner's position he probably wouldn't act on it very often. The question was, what was going on now? Could he be serious?

Fox Mulder knew that he'd been an SOB to Skinner the whole week and his boss hadn't really deserved it, but Mulder hated these meetings, reviewing the same case files and facts over and over and no one really wanting to listen to him. He knew that he'd spotted several tie ins and leads that no one else had, but his comments had been ignored by everyone, but his boss. That was really why he didn't want to come to this meeting with Skinner. He didn't want to be humiliated in front of his boss. Mulder hadn't wanted Skinner to find out how poorly he was regarded. People didn't like working with Spooky Mulder and this group in particular didn't want to admit that he might be able to help. It wouldn't be the first time that all his suggestions would appear to be ignored, and then a month or so later word would come back that so and so had solved the case based on new insight. Insight that Mulder recognized as his own, but for which the agent didn't want to give him credit. Hell, he didn't care about the credit, he just wished they wouldn't treat him as if he was some kind of nut case. He hadn't wanted to be embarrassed in front of his boss so he had fought coming and given Skinner a ration of shit for making him.

Surprisingly, Skinner had not reacted as he expected. Instead of joining in the jokes or ignoring their treatment of him, his boss had taken stock of how things stood very fast and set them on their ears regarding Mulder's hunches. He hadn't let them ignore and denigrate Mulder as they normally did. Most of the hunches had paid off, too. Skinner's respect and support had come to mean a lot to Fox Mulder over the last several months, so much so that it scared him. Normally he treated those in authority with disdain or even contempt, but since Skinner had stood beside him against Cancerman, Fox Mulder had come to respect and rely on him. He also found that he very much wanted his boss' trust and respect as well. 

His own response to their recent verbal fencing had left him disturbed, however. He was shocked to realize just how much he wanted his boss to be serious about what he'd said. It had been a long time since he'd been with anyone and Walter's comments had aroused him and shaken him to the core. What was it about Walter Skinner that made him want this particular closeness with him? He'd wanted other men to respect him before but he'd never been attracted to them as he was to the AD. There was just something about him....?

As he walked down the drug aisle he threw in a box of condoms and some lubricant. You never knew and even if Skinner wasn't serious it would probably be good for some more harassment.

  
Having packed up the few items that Mulder had left out that morning and moved his suitcase to the room they now shared, Walter Skinner sat down and waited for Mulder to return from the store. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering to what might happen upon Fox's return. 'What did he want to happen?' 

That didn't take much thought, since he knew what his body wanted, so now his mind was faced with the challenge of trying to convince it to behave. Figuring that the store was crowded with people storing up supplies, he decided that Mulder probably wouldn't be back for at least forty-five minutes. Definitely time for a quick *cold* shower. The cold muddy water he'd spent most of the day wading through had left him smelling musty and feeling uncomfortable. Realizing unhappily that his shoes were ruined as well, he stripped down and headed into the bathroom.

Mulder was faster than expected and Skinner slower. The older man exited the bathroom wearing only a towel around his waist to find his subordinate back, having stripped down to his boxers because his clothes had been completely soaked. Mulder was unpacking the perishable groceries into the small in room refrigerator. 

The store had been crowed and unorganized and as a result Mulder was in a bad mood. Time for more Skinner baiting. "Hey couldn't you have waited? I hurried."

Skinner was tired, fed-up, nervous and, worst of all, horny. "Cut the crap, Mulder. Either put up or shut up."

"So what makes you think that I won't put up?" Mulder snapped back standing up from the refrigerator. Skinner had gotten them into this mess and the agent was tired of being cold and wet.

Skinner began to move in closer as Mulder stood there facing him. 

"You don't have the balls." 

They were now nose to nose, each waiting for the other to blink and each determined not to be the one to back off. Their eyes met and dueled, bodies moving closer until they were only inches apart, until the shivers running down each other's respective spines, and the hardness between their legs could no longer be ignored. They both decided at the same time that things were getting out of hand. They began to back off, both stepping to the same side simultaneously, running into each other and grabbing each other's upper arms to prevent falling. 

The contact was explosive. At the touch, the feel of the other, both men realized that this was no longer simply a verbal game of one-up-manship. Each kept telling himself to pull away, to stop what had begun but felt helpless to do so. Something deeper and stronger was driving them. Finally lossing control they leaned into the embrace. Suddenly they were kissing. Long and hard, pressing their bodies tighter and tighter together. The friction as their bodies entwined caused Walter's towel to fall, and they pulled slightly apart. Each looked deep into the other man's eyes questioningly. Neither had the nerve to speak, afraid that words would bring them to their senses and stop the progression. Neither wanted it to stop. Mulder stepped slightly to the side and reached into one of the grocery bags, pulling out a box of condoms and a tube of lubricant, a slight questioning smile on his face. Skinner nodded and moved to the bed. 

Fox Mulder followed. 

For the next half hour barely a sound was heard in the room. Mulder let his boss take the lead. They had resumed kissing when they laid down on the bed and began touching. Skinner quickly stripped off Mulder's briefs. The feel of each other was so very arousing that each fought to control the passion building within. 

It had been a long time for them both, but the enjoyment was so sweet that they didn't want it to end quickly. Walter was on top using his hands and lips to explore the supine form beneath him. He glanced up at one point to see Mulder biting his lip to control his moans. Walter slid slowly up his body from where he had been kissing him. Leaning down he whispered softly in his companion's ear, "Relax." Then pulled back and looked into his eyes. 

The passion, longing and acceptance he saw there made him catch his breath. Never before had he seen this agent so vulnerable, so open, the wall that normally surrounded him totally gone. 'So young. So very young.' Skinner fought hard to keep from blurting out everything he felt. 'Not yet, it was too soon.' He didn't want to stop and take the time to think. 

He lowered his lips to Fox's and they kissed again, hungrily. Walter began to work his way down Mulder's torso kissing, biting, stroking. The unusually submissive agent beneath him gave up the fight to remain quiet and began to moan. Each new special erogenous zone was duly noted and given undivided attention. Each nipple received Walter's ministrations, followed by Mulder's stomach. Walter was deliberately avoiding the groin area. He wanted the man beneath him to be wild with desire and he didn't want him coming early. Yet, finally, in response to the moans coming from his partner, the AD lost what little control he had. Rising up, he lay down on top of his agent. 

Their bodies began to rub together, chest to chest, their erections teasing each other, lips and tongues sucking, teasing, biting, hands exploring every area within reach. Afterwards neither could have told who lost it first; they both cried out and came almost simultaneously. 

Skinner rolled off the man beneath him. He suddenly wanted to get up, to run away, to deny that this had ever happened. The reality of what he'd just done filled him with horror. It was one thing to have idle fantasies about someone, but to actually act on them... this was sheer stupidity. But one look into the face of the man beside him and he was lost. Fox Mulder looked so scared, unsure, confused and under all of that happy that Walter knew that he couldn't leave him, couldn't deny what he felt for this agent any longer. He reached out and drew him into an embrace, kissing him deeply, stroking his face and back gently. Not a word was said as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms. 

As he surrendered to sleep, Walter thought to himself that falling in love with Fox Mulder was not the brightest thing he'd ever done and acting on it was probably the stupidest.

At nearly the same moment, Fox Mulder was thinking that this was probably the biggest mistake he'd ever made in his life. However, it felt so damn good that he couldn't quite bring himself to give a shit - at least not at this particular moment. He was also wishing to himself that this had just been about sex, but he knew that his feelings for the man beside him went far deeper than mere surface attraction. He realized abruptly that his life had just gotten very complicated.

'First Scully and now Skinner, why couldn't he fall for someone reachable?' He smiled at that thought and moved in closer to his companion. Skinner had suddenly become very reachable and that was quite a shock. They would have to be very careful if they continued this, but right now they were isolated, safe and it felt good. He soon followed his boss into sleep.

  
Walter woke up quickly in the mornings, instantly and fully alert, a left over from his time in Vietnam. However, this time the position he found himself in was so alien that it took him a while to get his bearings. When he realized that the body he was curled around was Fox Mulder's he groaned. 'Fuck. What do we do now?'

Fox heard the groan and came awake slowly. The first thing he noticed was that the arm curled around his mid section was muscular and had hair. 'Oh shit! You just had to push it, Mulder, couldn't leave well enough alone. Fuck... flirted with the boss... stupid, stupid, stupid.' He rolled over so that he could look into Skinner's face. They both were stunned at what they had done, but found themselves reluctant to separate.

He reached up to stroke Skinner's face gently, enjoying the rough feel of beard on his palm. "Well we've sure fucked up." 

Skinner laughed, "Yeah, you can say that again. I can't remember ever behaving so stupidly in my life, how about you?"

"A few times, but not many." They smiled at each other. Walter's hand began to stroke Mulder's waist and hip. "So we both know that this is wrong, can't work, would be career suicide, not to mention probably get us called before the OPC." Walter nodded. Fox continued, "So why am I going to suggest we pick up where we left off last night?"

Walter chuckled, "I don't know. Just like I don't know why I'm going to take you up on the offer, but I am." They paused and kissed, their tongues touching and stroking. Fox's comment of, "This time I get to be on top," was one of a very few made by either of them over the course of the next hour. 

Fox was afraid to say the words so he decided to let his actions speak for him. He concentrated on giving Walter as much pleasure as he could. He wanted to hear him cry out beneath him, but not long into his attempt to please his boss he forgot about everything, but their two bodies together. Skinner's muscles rippled beneath his exploring hands. His arms, chest and stomach were firm and muscular and he was very responsive. 'God he feels good.' Fox looked up to see the man beneath him fighting to remain quiet and in control. He snaked up Walter's torso letting their bodies rub sensuously together. Finally Walter moaned. Fox leaned down and whispered into his ear, "Relax." Walter smiled back, a bit embarrassed by how overwhelming he was finding this. He was used to being in control of both his emotions and the situations he found himself in but this time everything was out of control and it scared him. Still he didn't want to stop.

'It's been so long.' Was one of his few coherent thoughts.

Mulder leaned up to his ear and asked two questions in one. "Do you want me on my stomach or do you want to roll over?"

At first Walter was confused, but then he remembered the condoms and KY Fox had purchased. He'd never had anybody do him. The only man he had had as a partner had always wanted to be on the receiving end. He wondered what Fox would prefer. "What would you prefer, Mulder?"

He watched as his partner blushed and looked away.

"What's wrong?"

Finally meeting his gaze Mulder answered, "I've never done either. In my only other relationship with... well between a... we only went down on each other. It was new to both of us and didn't last long enough to progress on to that stage."

Walter sighed. Fox was even more fragile and vulnerable than he had realized. He reached up and gently stroked the side of his face. "We don't have to do anything that you aren't comfortable with."

Fox's answer surprised him yet again. "I'm not comfortable with any of this, but I sure as hell don't want to stop."

'Confession time, Walter.' He thought to himself. "I've only had one other male partner myself and he always wanted to be on the receiving end."

"How do I get into these messes, Sir?"

Walter chuckled. "It's long past time for 'Sir', Mulder. And you end up in these situations because you open yourself up to extreme possibilities."

He paused and thought about what his boss had said. "I'll let you lead, Si... What should I call you?"

"Walter is fine by me. And since we're both fairly limited in our experiences in this area let's stick to what we know for now."

Mulder nodded his agreement and then acquired a wolfish grin. At Walter's raised brow his grin got bigger as he moved slowly down his boss' torso. 'This I know,' he thought to himself as he went down on Walter.

The feel... the sight... hell just the idea of Fox kissing and touching him there drove him wild, not to mention that his agent was an expert. He would bring Walter right to the edge and then back off teasing and tantalizing him until he couldn't stand it anymore. The next time Mulder brought him to the edge and began to back off Walter grabbed Fox's head between his large strong hands and held him in place until he finally exploded, the groan he released reverberating throughout the room. After a few moments he raised his head to apologize to Mulder for losing control only to find his companion grinning smugly at him.

"Enjoying yourself, Walter?"

Skinner found himself embarrassed to have lost control like that and Fox's obvious enjoyment of the situation added to his discomfort. "Well you seemed pleased with yourself."

"I am. Aren't you?"

Walter relaxed a little and smiled. "Very, but I do believe it's your turn."

"You don't have to... I mean it isn't necessary."

"I don't feel obligated if that's what you mean, but it is something that I want to do. So for once lay back, relax, enjoy and follow orders for a change." Skinner pushed his companion down on the bed and returned the favor. He watched as Fox grabbed the head board and bit his lip trying to control the volume of his moans. They both knew that they couldn't afford to be too loud and disturb the residents of adjoining rooms. The sight of Mulder writhing beneath him brought to mind some rather interesting bondage videos he'd seen during one of his cases. 'Stop it, Walter,' he admonished himself, 'this can't go on after we return to DC so just enjoy it now.'

End Part One

===========================================================================

Part Two

They had been stranded for five days. Normally both men would have been climbing the walls from the inactivity, but the new relationship they were discovering kept them distracted. Being able to reach the local field office allowed them to work several hours a day. The computers and phones worked so they managed to keep busy and stay productive. Most sporting events had been canceled, but movies were still running at the local theaters, so they saw several of those, but mostly they talked. About sports, careers, childhood's, a little, and dozens of other things, except of course what was important. They avoided talking about how they felt and what they were going to do when they returned to DC. In fact they both studiously ignored what went on at night between them. No touch occurred, nor comment was made about their love making. During the day it was as if it didn't exist.

"Thank you, sergeant. Yes, that's fine. No problem."

Fox Mulder hung up the phone. He took a deep breath and turned to Walter. "That was the state police. The interstate is open again so we should be able to drive out of here tomorrow and get to the Center City airport . Or if those flights are full Burmanton's airport is only another hour's drive."

Walter Skinner nodded not saying anything. 'Well you knew it had to end sometime.' 

"Call my assistant and have her see what she can get us out on." He wouldn't meet Mulder's gaze, instead he stood up and looked out of the window. "Had to return to the real world sometime."

"That almost sounds like regret?"

Walter sighed. He could hear the wistfulness and question in Fox's voice. Hell he felt the same way, but things couldn't go on like this. No matter how much he wanted them to. What would be easiest? Telling Fox the truth, that he wanted to it to continue or simply treating this as an interesting diversion. The AD wanted to tell Mulder the truth, but when he turned to look at him he found that for once he didn't have the courage. Sighing again he turned back to the window. "It can't continue when we get back, Mulder. It's way too risky for both our sakes."

Mulder wanted to shout, to shake his boss, to hit him, anything to break through that cold exterior that he surrounded himself with. He wanted the truth. Did it matter to Walter... this last week... or was it just a passing fling? His boss had stayed cool and distant all week, his reserve breaking down only when they were alone in the room together. Fox found it difficult to reconcile the wildly passionate man with whom he shared a bed at night with the cool aloof figure before him. 

Yet, even he, acknowledged the wisdom of Walter's words. They were both under close scrutiny. Sleeping together, staying together, would be very risky, but sometimes he wondered if the joy he'd felt this last week wouldn't be worth it. It hadn't only been about sex. Although that part had been phenomenal. It was about companionship. About sitting and working in the same room to look up and suddenly and see his boss staring at him. Sometimes they'd exchange a smile and go back to work, but at others he would see the fire blazing in Walter's eyes and they would take a work break. He smiled to himself. Sometimes those work breaks had gone on all night. Having someone, being with someone, especially Walter Skinner, someone he had come to trust and respect, it had been wonderful and he didn't want to give it up. 

He knew that they had to though. For his own sake he might chance it, but he cared about Walter too much to risk his career as well. Sighing again, he stood up from the bed, walked up behind his lover and put his arms around his waist hugging him from behind. He didn't argue. "We still have tonight." Fox kissed Walter's neck. "Let's make the most of it."

Walter placed his arms over Mulder's and nodded, leaning back into Fox's embrace. 'I'm going to miss this.' He thought as he turned and took Mulder into his arms. The kiss they shared was filled with a passionate desperation. Neither willing to admit in word to the other what he felt, yet each trying desperately to communicate via actions. The love they made that night was silent, filled with a certain quiet desperation. Each trying to give to the other the love they could not find the words to express.

Fox would never forget that night laying on his stomach with Walter on top, their hands intertwined, the older man deep inside bringing him to an ecstasy he'd never felt before. Part pain, all pleasure, all consuming... The fulfillment in his partner's voice as he came... He would never forget... never wanted to... despite the emotional pain and loneliness that the memory would later bring.

They packed the next morning in silence, shared a final passionate embrace, picked up their bags and headed silently out the door. Both resolved to never again mention what had gone on between them during the last week.

  
"Damn it where the hell is she?" Mulder checked his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. Their meeting with Skinner was supposed to start in less than fifteen minutes. He gave up waiting and dialed her cellular.

"Scully."

"Where are you? We should be heading up to Skinner's office right now."

"Stuck in traffic."

"Damn it, Scully, you promised." 

 She sighed and wondered for the hundredth time what was up with Mulder and their boss. For the last two months the two men had barely talked and a meeting with Skinner set Mulder on edge for hours, both before and after it. And he'd absolutely insisted that she attend every blessed one. She could tell that he was in as near as he ever got to panic at the thought of going alone. Dana Scully thought that she'd give half a year's pay to find out what they fought about on that out of town consult. 'Oh well, maybe they just got on each other's nerves sharing a room.' 

"I'm sorry, Mulder, but a semi turned over on the freeway. I'm just not going to be able to make it back from Quantico in time. The way it's looking it'll probably be at the very least another forty-five minutes."

She heard him mutter, "Damn," under his breath before he continued. "I'll call and see if I can reschedule it for this afternoon."

"You don't really need me there for this. You're more familiar with the facts of the case than I am."

"That's all right, I'll reschedule for later today if I can. Drive safe." The line went dead, leaving Scully very puzzled as to what was up with her partner. His behavior was stranger than normal and considering that this was Fox 'Spooky' Mulder that was saying something.

Mulder dialed Skinner's office immediately. When his assistant answered Mulder got right to the point.

"This is Agent Mulder, Kimberly. Agent Scully is tied up in traffic so we won't be able to make our scheduled meeting. Would you inform the AD and ask if we can reschedule it for this afternoon. Thanks." He was off the phone not leaving her time to put him through to the AD.

Fox Mulder took a deep breath. 'Great now I've got another three or four hours to twist in the wind.' He checked his watch again. Damn, it was late to cancel that meeting, but he couldn't face Walter Skinner alone. He hadn't seen the man alone since they had parted after their flight home from River Grove. It should have been easy to forget what happen, to put it out of his mind, just ignore it. Instead he couldn't stop thinking about it.

It hurt... sometimes so much he thought he couldn't breath around the pain. Maybe if Skinner had just once looked at him with longing, like he missed the connection they had shared as well, but instead he'd been coldly professional every time he'd seen him. Mulder had finally come to the conclusion that he was merely a passing diversion for his bored boss. He took several deep breaths trying to calm himself down. Nothing seemed to help and his dreams at night were filled with images of the week spent sharing a room with Walter.

He'd begun to think of him as two separate men. There was Skinner, a cold heartless bastard and then there was Walter, kind, passionate, caring. He didn't dare have a meeting alone with Skinner for fear that he would give himself away, that he would try to break down the walls that surrounded the man and see if Walter really existed or was simply a creation of his needy, dependent side. He was beginning to think it was the latter. He sighed and pulled out some research material on a current case and tried to forget the coming meeting. 'At least Scully will be there.'

  
"Come in," Skinner called in answer to the knock at his office door. He looked up expecting to see Mulder and Scully enter only to be surprised when his assistant entered.

"Agent Mulder just called, Sir, and said that they need to reschedule. Agent Scully is tied up in traffic."

Skinner opened his mouth to protest that Scully wasn't necessary to the meeting, but closed it before saying anything. He realized that she wasn't the one he needed to talk to. He took a long breath before saying, "Thank you, Kimberly. That'll be all."

After she left he pushed aside what he had been working on and sat back to think. What was he going to do about Fox Mulder? He had thought that Mulder was okay with how they left things, but now he was beginning to have his doubts. Since their return from River Grove eight weeks ago, not by a word, an action or even a look, had Fox betrayed that he was anything, but satisfied with how they left things. It was only in the last couple of weeks that Walter had begun to suspect that Mulder was avoiding him. Maybe he was beginning to notice because he desperately wanted to be alone with his agent. 

He had told himself that he was satisfied with the way things had been left, that it was the logical thing to do, way too risky to have a relationship with Fox. And he'd even managed to convince himself that he was content with that decision, except for nights, then weekends, and now even during working hours, he was having trouble living with the choice. So for the last couple of weeks he had been trying to nonchalantly arrange a private meeting to gauge how Fox was doing. To see if maybe he too was coming to the conclusion that a relationship was worth the risks involved. Yet he'd been frustrated at every turn. Just bad timing he'd thought at first but now he knew that that wasn't the case. Scully wasn't necessary to this meeting. In fact, considering that it involved a review of one of Mulder's old unsolved cases that predated Scully, she really didn't belong, but Mulder had insisted, claiming that maybe her fresh eyes could bring new insight. It was a lame excuse, but Walter hadn't pushed.

After worrying the subject around in circles for several more minutes he decided that he was going to have to talk to Fox Mulder and that the only way he was going to manage that was for the mountain to come to Mohammed. He got up and headed for the basement office of the X-files.

  
"Yeah," Mulder said in answer to the knock at his door. He felt his breath rush out as if he'd been kicked in the stomach as Walter Skinner walked in. 'Shit. I can't handle this now.'

AD Skinner had planned a mature rational conversation with Fox Mulder, but when his agent looked up in those glasses, 'damn they made him look sexy,' a startled deer in the headlights look on his face, every thought and plan went out the window. Walter felt himself react so violently that he couldn't catch his breath. His body hardened so fast that he felt like an erection was beamed in fully formed. 'Oh god this was a mistake.' He slammed his emotions down hard and as a result his face became cold and mask-like, and his voice held anger. He was furious at himself for not being able to control his emotions and his body's response to Fox's proximity.

To Mulder, who looked up into the anger of his boss' face it appeared that the AD was furious with him. He felt his own anger rise in return. 'Damn it, I can't help it that I'm not the cold-blooded, son-of-a-bitch he is. I can't forget what happened so easily.'

Walter took his anger out on Fox. "Agent Mulder, we had a meeting scheduled. I do not expect to be blown off because your partner can't attend. Is that understood?"

Mulder swallowed the bile down. "Yes, Sir. Perfectly clear, Sir. Will that be all, Sir."

Skinner wanted to do about half a dozen things to Special Agent Fox Mulder. Most of them if portrayed in a movie would earn it an immediate NC-17 rating. He settled on the most reasonable. "What has gotten into you, Mulder?" Walter was trying to make an overture, but Fox couldn't see beyond his pain.

He stood up, almost at attention, facing his boss across the room and answered. "You did, Sir. Or don't you remember?"

Skinner drew in a quick breath at the memories the last comment invoked. Mulder was referring to their last night together, and the one and only time the box of condoms and tube of KY had been used. As he fought for his own control, Fox continued. "I realize that you'd prefer to forget what happened, so I thought it would please you if you never had to see me again."

"Is that what you think?" Skinner, fighting hard to control the pain he felt, kept his voice cold and unemotional.

"One night stands aren't my thing so you'll excuse me if I don't know proper etiquette."

Walter was trying to collect his thoughts when Scully knocked on the door and entered. The tension in the room was obvious. 

Skinner thought a fast retreat was in order. "My afternoon is booked, Agent Mulder. Read the update and write up a summary. If I have any questions I'll contact you." He nodded at Dana and said, "Agent Scully." And walked swiftly out the door.

Mulder saw the shocked look on his partner's face, he was too tired to pretend that nothing was going on, she wouldn't believe him anyway. "Don't ask, Scully. It's a long and complicated story that I'm just not up to." 

He put his head down on his desk for a few minutes before returning to the research he had been reading. 'Stupid, stupid...' The whole purpose to avoiding the AD had just been blown out the window. He'd wanted to keep from humiliating himself in front of Walter, but less than five minutes alone in the same room and he'd managed to make a jackass out of himself. 'Damn. Well he's got little doubt now as to how I feel,' Fox thought to himself. 

Dana pulled a chair up to her desk and started writing up her autopsy findings, realizing that whatever it was between Mulder and Skinner he wasn't about to talk about it now.

  
Walter Skinner decided to take the stairs back up to his office. He needed the time to think about what had just happened. Not only about what was going on with Mulder, but with himself as well. His reaction to being alone with Fox for the first time in eight weeks had knocked him on his ass. Never had anyone's mere presence so turned him on and disturbed him. Never had he hurt so much to see someone else in pain. And he was almost sure that that was what Fox was suffering. 'Did I cause that? Do I mean something to him?' He couldn't quite believe it. It had only been a week together, surely such a strong bond couldn't have formed that fast... Could it? But he knew the answer. Every night as he reached for Fox in his sleep he had his answer...

During their week together, Fox had been light hearted and teasing. Walter had taken it to mean that he regarded the week as a pleasant sexual interlude and nothing more. He thought he had been merely a diversion during a week of forced inactivity. And he'd told himself that he was happy with that. Now he wasn't so sure. Caring for Fox meant that he couldn't be an objective observer. Could Mulder care for him? Did he want him to?

When he had first met Fox Mulder he was startled by his burning intelligence and compassion. He was a man driven. That drive was what had originally caught his attention. Unlike most of the agents around him Mulder wasn't motivated by ambition, but by a desire to do some good, to make a difference. He really cared about the people he was trying to help and the pain he felt for the victims was obvious in both word and deed. And he had a terrifying ability to get into the mind of a serial killer. Skinner had never stooped to the spooky jokes, but he understood the other agents' fears. Mulder often scared him, but he also intrigued him as well. And even way back then Walter had noticed how attractive a man Fox Mulder was. He could still remember watching him get out of the gym pool wearing a pair of red speedos. That was the first time since high school that Walter could remember getting a hard on just looking at another man.

He'd watched Mulder's career at the Bureau, glad when he had found the X-files. Profiling serial killers had taken too much of a toll on Fox and the X-files had saved his sanity, if not his life. Having watched the agent for a number of years he had come to the conclusion that he wasn't capable of love. Fox could love humanity as a whole, or feel compassion for a victim, but when it came down to caring for someone in a relationship Mulder was ruled too much by his intellect to ever succumb to mere human feelings. At least that was what Skinner thought, until Dana Scully that is.

They'd worked together over a year and Walter still hadn't changed that opinion. Mulder had survived the shut down of the X-files. He hadn't taken it with good grace, but if he had that wouldn't have been Mulder. It wasn't until Scully's disappearance that he realized that Mulder felt more for his partner than simple friendship. His devastation at her loss spoke volumes more than words that someone had broken through that cold, self absorbed exterior.

And then she had been returned, dying, it seemed, and Walter Skinner had come face to face with his own realization that what he felt for these two agents was way beyond professional. He was concerned for them both. Their brilliant minds, that refused to shy away from the truth no matter how bizarre, their compassion and concern for others, their sense of humor, an overriding commitment to justice, all came together to touch him somewhere deep inside. He felt a kinship to them that he had seldom felt with anyone else. He told himself that he felt paternal towards them and he'd even believed it until the day Fox Mulder leaned into his ear and promised not to ravish him in the night. Fox hadn't kept that promise and now it looked like his agent's feelings ran deeper for him than he realized. 

He'd made it to his floor and stood there thinking. Skinner didn't want to face anyone just then so he turned around and headed back down the stairs, deciding to take an early lunch. As he walked he decided that no matter what his or Fox's feelings it was better for both of them not to get involved. He would respect Mulder's wishes and keep him at a distance. The cold, remote look on his face as he walked out of the Hoover building kept everyone at a distance.

Three Weeks Later  
Northeast Georgetown Medical Center

Fox Mulder came slowly awake, aware of a dull throbbing behind his eyes. He'd done it again he knew from the hospital surroundings. Slowly he turned his head to find his friend and partner sitting beside the bed. She smiled at him. 'God how I love it when she smiles like that.' He watched the twinge of sadness and pain cross her face as he observed that "he guessed he wasn't dead." 'It was nice to know that at least *she* cared.'

Then came the news that pounded him in the gut. Skinner had been shot and evidence pointed to it being the man that had shot Melissa. 'Damn, those bastards wouldn't leave anyone alone.' 

He had fretted most of the day. He had a concussion and had been unconscious for several hours, so that they were insisting on twenty-four hours observation before releasing him. The drugs they gave him for the pain left him groggy and he drifted in and out of sleep, but he couldn't seem to rest. Poor Scully had a lot to handle with both him and Skinner in the hospital at the same time and the man responsible for her sister's death on the loose and in the area. By early evening he had started refusing the pain killers, wanting his mind to clear. He was determined to see Walter. 

Scully had assured him that Skinner was all right and would recover, but by ten that night he knew that he had to see for himself. He waited for the nurses to be occupied preparing for the shift change and dressed, making sure that he had his FBI ID. The guards had better not let him in without it or he'd have their heads. Having gotten out of Dana earlier in the day where Skinner's room was, he headed that way.

Fox Mulder's head had started to pound by the time he got to the AD's floor, but he was determined. He flashed his badge at the guard who let him pass without question. He didn't like that it was so easy to get in, but on the other hand he couldn't knock it without bringing his own jail break to the doctor's attention. Shutting the door tight behind him, he entered Walter Skinner's room. 

Walter Skinner looked very pale in the dim glow generated by the small wall night-light. Fox sucked in his breath, his headache forgotten, replaced by a deep aching pain in his chest. Walking slowly over to his boss' side he took his hand in both of his, holding on to it tightly. Memories of the last few years playing over in his mind. Skinner had always been straight with him. Mulder hadn't realized it at first, he had thought that he was like all the other paper-pushers that cared more about advancing their careers and enlarging their power base than the public they were sworn to protect. It was only over time that Fox had come to realize that although the man was a by-the-book type that underneath it all he really did care about people and his agents. Skinner had supported him when no one else would and had given him back the X-files at considerable risk to his position because he'd wanted to see justice done. 

And now here he lay because he had refused to let them bury Melissa's case along with her. Fox Mulder raised one hand to gently caress the side of Walter's face, admiring his boss' courage and resolve. He felt his own tears start to fall. Not many, but a few managed to escape the control he was tenuously holding on to. 

Walter Skinner came slowly awake to feel a slight dampness on his hand, a hand that he suddenly realized was being held in an iron grip. He felt another hand gently stroking the side of his face and wondered who cared about him enough to be there. He fought to open his eyes. Slowly they opened. He blinked several times trying to get them to focus on the person beside him. He smiled up into Fox Mulder's concerned, tear-stained face, unsure of what to say.

Mulder spoke first. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

Skinner considered cracking a joke, but decided that they both had been hiding behind words for too long. He was tired of it so he answered truthfully. "Weak, tired and in a lot of pain." He nodded at Fox's head. "How 'bout you?"

"A little weak, a little tired and a little pain. At least compared to you."

They sat staring at each other neither sure what to say, neither sure what the other wanted. Walter realized that one of them would have to open up if they were ever going to get over this, so finally he spoke. He lifted Fox's hand to his mouth and gently kissed the palm before looking up and whispering the words. Fox leaned in to hear his companion's soft voice. "It was more than just a fling for me, Fox. I care..." His voice broke, he swallowed hard trying to find the courage to say the words. "I love you." The voice was hardly a whisper, but Fox Mulder heard and understood. He nodded.

Love shown out of his eyes and the hand that had stilled on Walter's cheek began again it's gentle stroking. He leaned in and kissed his lover on the lips. After the kiss he moved his lips to Walter's ear and whispered, "I'm glad." Sitting up he withdrew so that anyone coming in would not see anything unusual. They were simply two friends, except for his hand that rested lightly on Walter's arm. They smiled at each other, both so engrossed in what had occurred and the promise that it offered that neither noticed Dana Scully slipping quietly out of the room.

  
Scully left the hospital quickly and headed home trying to keep from thinking about what she had seen. She had wanted to check on her partner and boss one last time before going home to bed. Going first to Mulder's room and finding it empty she had decided to check on Skinner and then go back to her partner's room. It wasn't unlike him to get antsy as he felt better and go for a long walk, so she would give him time to return before setting off the alarm. He'd left his jacket and a few other items in his room so that she figured he would be coming back. 

Arriving at Skinner's room she had flashed her badge at the guard and entered quietly not wanting to disturb him if he was sleeping. The curtain blocked the bed from the door so that she was a couple of steps into the room before she realized that someone was with him. She had just started to reach for her gun when she realized that it was Mulder. As she started to speak she became aware that something wasn't quite right. Her partner was holding their boss' hand with one hand and stroking his face with the other. She couldn't tell if Skinner was awake until he brought Mulder's hand to his face and kissed the palm. Stunned, Dana had leaned back against the wall and said nothing. She realized that they were talking, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. The final blow to her equilibrium had come when Fox Mulder had leaned over and passionately kissed Walter Skinner on the lips. And it was obvious that the AD was returning the kiss. Backing to the door she slipped out before being noticed.

She had known for the last few months that something was going on between the two of them, but had no idea what. From the way her partner had been acting she had assumed that they had had a fight on the trip to River Grove and that he was angry at the AD for something. Now she wondered what had gone on while they were stranded. 'How involved are they?' she wondered to herself. 'Had they been... the last few months?' No she didn't think so. But at some point in time something had happened because their relationship was obviously of a different nature than anyone realized.

Deciding to watch and wait she went home to bed and to dream.

End Part Two

===========================================================================

Part Three

A Couple of Weeks Later

Walter Skinner stretched and grimaced in pain as he pulled Mulder's latest report out to read. 'This should qualify as fantasy fiction.' He was just dying to see how Mulder and Scully explained why a mousy little research assistant had beaten up an Assistant Director of the FBI. Damn. Every time he thought about it he felt humiliated. Course being blind-sided with mace to the face and having just been shot a few weeks earlier, but still... It didn't bear thinking about. Checking his watch he saw that it was after nine and sighed. Another late night. There had been a lot more of those since his return from River Grove. He now admitted to himself that the reason for this was that his house had seemed suddenly empty and lonely. He wondered for the hundredth time how one week could change his perspective so much. 

Maybe soon... He fought that thought down. Today had definitely been a set back. Late, on the night after he'd been shot, Fox had come to his room and they had talked. Not much really, but enough so that both men realized that they wanted to resume the relationship. Mulder no longer avoided him, and even on occasion would drop his protective wall a little, but he was waiting for Walter to make the first move. The ball now firmly in his court, Walter wanted to wait until he was healed. It was a matter of pride and probably stupidity on his part, but he wanted to go to Fox as an equal and physically he still had a way to go. Getting kicked in the gut had not helped. 'Damn.'

Not to forget Dr. Dana Scully's physical after that. They'd cleaned out his eyes and then she had insisted on him stripping off his shirt so that she could make sure no damage had been done. He'd refused, but then Fox had come in and started riding him about getting checked out. 

"Agent Scully, I don't think an exam is necessary."

"Sir, you had surgery less than three weeks ago, being kicked in the abdominal area could have opened up your injuries. It is only prudent to be checked out."

Skinner had been about to refuse when Mulder had piped in. "It's all right, Sir, I promise to be your chaperon. Make sure Scully doesn't get fresh." Walter had almost popped back 'who's going to make sure you don't get fresh,' but with a quick glance at Scully he'd decided to hold his tongue. He could tell from the grin on Fox's face and the way he raised his eyebrows that he had a pretty good idea of what his boss had almost said.

The look he and Scully had shot Mulder was not pleasant, but if he'd learned anything in that week with Fox it was that the more he resisted, the more outrageous his agent became. He acquiesced. Dana Scully hadn't been as startled by his abrupt capitulation as he had thought she would. Neither man knew that she had picked up on the affection in the comment and was thinking, 'it must be nice to have the AD wrapped around your little finger.'

'I shouldn't be surprised.' Skinner mused. 'She's worked with Mulder for three years now and knows how outrageous he can be.' So he had taken off his shirt, undone his pants, laid down on the couch in his office, and tried to ignore Scully's hands as they poked around his abdomen and the effect they were having on him. 'Damn.' He was trying to decide if his ceiling needed a paint job and was wishing he was gay and not bi so that she wouldn't affect him so. He'd looked up over Scully's shoulder into Fox Mulder's amused and sympathetic eyes. The man was learning to read him way too well for his own comfort. Mulder knew that his boss was fighting getting turned on by Scully's touch and from the look on Fox's face he was thinking 'been there, done that.' They shared an empathetic glance, both men realizing that the red-headed woman in between them stirred up more than professional feelings.

That had been this morning and Scully and Mulder had been prompt at getting their reports written up. As he read over the events at the hospital he blanched. 'No wonder Fox let Scully drop off the report. He must be devastated.' Walter Skinner had known for over a year that Mulder was in love with his partner and realized that what Modell had tried to do would probably have shaken him to the core. He sighed and debated calling Fox at his apartment or going over to see him there. But no, if Mulder wanted to see him he would have called or dropped the report by in person. Their relationship was too tentative for him to feel comfortable trying to get Fox to open up to him. He slammed his fist down on his desk in frustration, desperately wishing that his agent would let him in. 'That's enough for tonight,' he thought to himself. He signed off on their report and packed up to head home.

As he walked through the parking garage to his car he noticed Mulder's car in the lot. He stopped and looked at it carefully. Yes it was definitely Fox's. Scully said that he had gone home. He didn't think that she had been deliberately lying for him, but that didn't mean that Mulder hadn't come back after she left. 'Damn it, Fox, you've got to get some rest.' Skinner threw his briefcase onto the back seat of his car, headed back into the building and down to Mulder's office.

Knocking softly on the door he received no answer. 'Maybe Scully drove him home.' He opened the door to be sure and saw Mulder asleep with his head on his desk. Skinner shut and locked the door behind him and went over to Fox. He knelt carefully down beside the sleeping agent. Skinner studied his face. It had been over three months since he'd watched him sleep. The months had taken their toll. There were dark rings under his eyes and he looked gaunt. He'd lost weight that he didn't need to lose. Hell, with the last couple of cases it was no wonder. Walter reached out and gently stroked Fox's hair. He then bent in closer and kissed him softly on the cheek before pulling back and saying, "Come on, Mulder, wake up. It's after eleven on a Friday night and all good little boys and girls should be home in bed."

Mulder began to wake up at the feel of a hand on his head and a kiss on his cheek. It was a nice sensation. At Skinner's voice so close to his ear he smiled before opening his eyes and replying. "Guess I'm not a good little boy then." He lifted his head up, sat back in his chair and stretched. At Walter's grimace as he started to get up, Mulder moved quickly to help. "You okay, Sir? Should I call Scully to check you out again?"

"Why? So you can laugh at me some more as I fight to keep from getting a hard on and embarrassing myself in front of her."

"You just have to keep repeating my mantra. I will not lust after my partner... I will not lust after my partner... Course in your case you could switch it to I will not lust after a subordinate... Well maybe not? I'd hate to have you use that in relation to me. I like being lusted after." He winked and cast a sexy grin at his boss.

Walter gave him a sidelong glance back before asking, "And this mantra helps?"

"Not really. Fortunately when she checks me out I'm normally so sick that I don't feel much like sex anyway."

"Scully told me you went home?"

"I did, but I couldn't calm down... Kept replaying the last few days' events over in my head. I finally decided that coming back in to do paperwork couldn't be any worse."

Walter looked at his lost agent and made a decision. 'Pride be damned.' "Come on, Mulder, let's get you back to your place and you can pack."

"For where? Another new case?"

Walter took a deep breath hoping that this would go well. "No. For the weekend at my house." 

Mulder looked startled and a little afraid. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Come on."

Mulder got irritated. "I don't need pity."

"You're not getting any. My pride wanted to wait until I had recovered from the gunshot wound, but after the last couple of days... fuck it."

Mulder grinned at Skinner as he stood up. "Don't you mean me?"

"Hopefully, Fox. If I'm up to it. If not, I could still use the company?"

Mulder nodded shocked at his boss' sudden honesty. He leaned over pulling Skinner gently into a kiss before leaving the basement office.

  
Fox Mulder had insisted on driving himself home and over to Skinner's. So Walter gave him directions to his place and went home. Actually he went by the grocery store first to stock up. He hadn't been spending much time there of late and he wanted to have plenty of food in so that they wouldn't have to go out. The AD found himself feeling very nervous and excited. The step they were taking was a major risk. No, they really couldn't officially do anything if they found out that he and Fox were sleeping together, but he would sure as hell bet that that would be the end of any career advancement on his part and Mulder would be transferred. It would also become difficult. The FBI was a macho, old boys club, despite all the rumors about Hoover, and it would be hard to get the respect and obedience he needed from agents working under him if they found that he was attracted to men as well as women. 

But if the last three months had served any purpose, they had served to emphasize to him just how alone he was and how much he'd come to hate it. A week with Fox had allowed him to see just how lonely his life was, but he'd also found that not just anybody could assuage that loneliness. Only Fox Mulder seemed able to fill that void. He finished shopping and headed home.

It was well after midnight by the time he made it home and had the groceries unpacked. He paced around the house for the next hour, wondering towards the end if Mulder had changed his mind. That thought hurt, but he knew that Fox was particularly fragile right now and might not be up for any sort of relationship. When he heard a car pull into the garage he finally breathed a sigh of relief and went to greet his weekend guest. 

Shy and nervous didn't begin to describe how scared Fox felt as he pulled into Skinner's garage. He hadn't been in a relationship of any length and commitment since Pheobe and he had the feeling that if he allowed himself to let loose, his commitment to Walter would be just as strong, if not stronger. He knew instinctively that Walter wouldn't betray him as Pheobe had. The only person who could compete with those feelings was Dana Scully and he doubted that she would be interested. The fact that Walter seemed aware of his feelings for Dana, and wasn't threatened by them, gave him a measure of comfort. In fact, from watching the AD over the last few weeks, Mulder was coming to the conclusion that Walter shared his feelings for Scully. Well that was an unachievable dream to meditate on... a threesome. He sighed as he saw Walter open the door between the garage and the house and smile at him. 'Better concentrate on a twosome first.' He heard the automatic door coming down behind him.

Getting out of the car, he reached into the back seat and got his bag. He hadn't bothered to pack much, just a couple of changes of clothes, undies, sweats to sleep in, and some reading materials. 

"Come on in. Are you hungry?"

"No thanks...." A yawn interrupted his reply. 'Damn.' Suddenly he could barely keep his eyes open. "I ate on my way back to work earlier tonight."

"This way then. I'll save the house tour for in the morning. Let's get to bed. It's almost two."

Walter gently guided him through the downstairs, up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Fox smiled at the bed. It was king size. "The bathroom's over here, towels and toiletries in the closet. I'm going to go lock up and set the alarm. You go ahead and get ready."

Ten minutes later he returned to find Fox ready for bed, but sitting in a chair. He spoke first. "I was afraid I'd fall asleep if I got in bed and I didn't want to do that alone."

Walter merely smiled and headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed. It didn't take long and when he came out he pulled Fox into his arms and kissed him, savoring the touch, taste and feel of him. Guiding him over to the bed he turned off the lights and they lay down together.

"Do you want to..." Fox's voice faded off before finishing.

"Not tonight. Tonight I just want to be together, if that's all right with you."

Mulder's voice faded off into sleep as he snuggled up next to Walter. "Sounds good to me. See you in the morning."

Walter smiled, pulled him closer into his embrace and settled down for the best night's sleep he'd had in three months, a contented smile on his face.

  
Waking curled up next to someone was a wonderful feeling, one with which neither man had much experience. Fox woke to the feel of an arm across his back. He sighed contentedly and smiled to himself because even though he barely remembered the room he woke to find himself in, he did remember whose arm it was. 

"Hungry?" Walter's voice brought a smile to his lips.

"Very." He rolled over to face his friend.

"How about pancakes and sausages."

"Low fat."

"No. Is that a problem?"

"Are you kidding? Low fat sausages are like no-salt popcorn... What's the point?"

Skinner laughed. There was a good bit of thirteen year old in Fox Mulder's makeup.

"So, you been awake long?" Mulder asked.

"Awhile." There was a hesitation in his voice.

"You could have gotten up."

"I could. If I'd wanted to... I didn't."

Fox smiled at the meaning behind the words. Walter had been enjoying watching him sleep. It was something that Fox had gotten used to during their week together. Because he was such an irregular sleeper and mostly a night owl, Mulder didn't get up very early unless he had to. Since they didn't have much to keep them busy at the regional office they didn't go in till late. The AD still woke up early, but instead of getting up and dressing, he'd often just sit and watch Fox and think. Mulder had been disconcerted at first, but after the second day or so he'd gotten used to the idea that his boss took pleasure in his presence. 

They got up and dressed and headed downstairs. Fox noticed that Walter was still moving slowly from his injury and that several bruises had appeared on both his face and abdomen. He got the coffee ready and Walter started the pancakes. As he was stirring the batter, Fox came up behind him, put his arms gently around his waist and pulled him back into an embrace. "So, how are you feeling?"

He felt Walter tense slightly and spoke before he could. "Truth."

Letting out a quick breath the AD finally answered. "It still hurts pretty bad at times and yesterday was definitely no help."

Fox heard something underlying the comments and smiled at his boss' discomfort. "You should stop beating yourself up over it. Mace would incapacitate anyone. And even without having been shot a few weeks ago, getting kicked in the gut is no fun."

"Damn it. She's all of what, five-one or five-two?"

"Scully's only five-two, but I can assure you that she can handle men twice her weight."

Walter laughed at that. Mulder was right. You didn't mess with Scully. One agent who'd gotten drunk at an office Christmas party had found that out. He chuckled at the memory. "What?"

"Just remembering Murphy at the Christmas party this year."

Mulder chuckled too. "One breast grab and he was flat on his back with her heel dug into his balls. He still runs in the other direction when he sees her coming."

"He'd better. I was ready to file an official reprimand, but Scully said she had taken care of it."

"I wanted to clean his clock, too."

"I'm surprised you didn't?"

"Scully informed me that she could take care of herself and if I so much as looked wrong at him I'd find myself in the same position as he'd been. I believed her."

Mulder gently hugged Walter tighter and kissed him on the back of the neck before moving off to pour himself a glass of orange juice and lean against the counter. "So, I wouldn't worry too much about your manly reputation. Actually, talk around the Bureau is that they are amazed that you were able to resist Modell. How'd you do it?"

Skinner knew that this was not a casual question on Mulder's part. Fox had almost shot Scully the day before and Walter knew that he had to be overwhelmed by that fact. "Best I can figure from the reports and my memories is that it was a combination of things. He'd expended a lot of energy getting past all the guards, plus getting Holly's cooperation. Then I'd surprised him and I've never been very easy to influence. Pig-headed and stubborn was my parents' description." He saw the look of pain cross Fox's face. 

"Fox, don't beat yourself up over it. You had to face him one on one and from what I read you managed to defeat him. That's pretty damn good, if you ask me, considering what happened to the other agents. When I faced him down he was tired and trying to maintain his influence over someone else." 

"I almost shot her, Walter. I can't get the memory out of my head. The gun pointed at her, my finger squeezing the trigger, the look of pain on her face... If she hadn't distracted him for just a second..." Fox slammed the glass down on the counter and turned around gripping it's edges. 

Walter put the mixing bowl down and came up behind Fox pulling him back into his arms. "Fox, the X-files are one close call after another. You either let the memories go or you resign from the X-files. It'll tear you apart otherwise. The love and trust you two share pulled you through again, be satisfied with that."

"How can Scully ever forgive me?"

"I saw her last night when she turned in the file. I wouldn't worry about it. She protected you in her report and when she talked to me. She doesn't blame you at all."

Fox sighed. Walter was right, but letting go of the guilt and pain was hard. 

As Mulder relaxed Walter leaned in to ask softly in his ear. "So you want to do the pancakes or the sausages?"

 He turned around to face Walter with a wicked grin on his face and replied, "Sausages, definitely sausages." 

His boss grinned back knowing that Fox was no longer talking about cooking. "After breakfast," was his only reply.

  
The dishes in the dish washer, kitchen cleaned up and food put away, Walter turned to Fox and suggested, "Shall we head upstairs."

Mulder took a long look at his boss before asking, "Do you really feel up to it?" Walter started to open his mouth and say 'of course', but at Mulder's look stopped.

He looked away not wanting to meet Fox's eyes and shook his head no.

Fox reached up gently brushing his cheek. "We've got plenty of time. You don't need to push yourself..."

"Damn it, I want to... it's just that..."

"If not this weekend, then next. Your body's been through a lot, let's give it some time to heal. I can wait. There are lots of other things to do."

They headed into the den to enjoy each other's company, hoping that what they had would survive the wait.

  
Walter had been afraid that without sex they wouldn't have much to keep them occupied, but instead he found that not only did they share a lot of common interests they also were comfortable just being together in silence. That was rare. Carol and he hadn't really been comfortable in silence. Even after several years they still felt the need to talk about something. He was amazed that with Fox he found that he was happy simply being in the same room while they worked or read.

The most surprising thing was the change in Fox, himself. At work, and even during the week they had spent together, he had been very hyper. Never at rest, even when he was sitting working, there had been a controlled tenseness about him. But by Saturday afternoon Walter came to realize that there was a certain peace about Mulder that was new. Calmness, contentment? He wasn't sure which, but Fox actually seemed to be at rest. It was a pleasant change and he secretly hoped that what they had together had made it possible. He hoped that he filled the emptiness in Fox in the same way that he found Fox filled an emptiness in him.

'Going to have to be careful when we get back to work,' he thought to himself. They had begun the weekend by respecting each other's personal space, but by Saturday night that had relaxed considerably. Walter couldn't decide whether it was the back massage that he had given Fox after he had been reading files hunched over for a few hours, or the way that Fox had fallen asleep and how his head had slipped into Walter's lap early in the evening. Whatever the reason, the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday was spent touching. 

  
It was early Sunday evening and they were sharing the couch reading. Walter was sitting up at one end finishing up the New York Times and Fox was sprawled out on the rest of it reading a new science fiction novel that Walter had in his library. Mulder had razzed him considerably about having a fairly large science-fiction collection. The AD had only smiled and pointed out that he had to try and get a handle on what Mulder's cases were all about somehow. 

Fox's bare feet were resting up against Walter's leg. Somewhere in the last hour or so they had started to gently massage his thigh. At first every now and then, but the frequency and duration of the movements had increased till it had become an almost constant gentle motion. Skinner couldn't decide if it was deliberate or not. Mulder *seemed* completely absorbed in what he was reading, but it was starting to drive the AD crazy. He was getting very aroused and he desperately wanted Fox, he just wasn't sure if he was up to it. The incision from the gun shot wound and the resulting surgery was still pretty sore and the kicking he had received a couple of days ago had made it worse. 'Still... maybe?'

Any doubt about whether what Fox was doing was accidental or deliberate went out the window when the agent shifted slightly and the foot that had been rubbing his leg moved to massage a much more private part of his anatomy. Walter groaned and put down the paper that he had been only pretending to read for the last ten minutes or so. He turned to his agent to see a devilish grin on Fox's face and that the book had been put down on the end table. Mulder raised an eyebrow at him and said, "How are you feeling?"

Sighing Walter replied. "I'm still pretty sore, but if I don't get some relief I'm going to have blue balls for the entire week."

Mulder's grin got wider, "Can't have that. Can we? Shall we go upstairs?" He swung his feet off the couch and stood up. They headed to the master bedroom.

At their previous encounters they had stripped separately and then gotten together into bed. This time Fox began to strip Walter. He was very gentle, but he also let his hands roam and their explorations aroused the other man even more. By the time Fox had him undressed and in bed he thought he might explode from another mere touch. The younger man withdrew from the bed and stood up slowly, beginning to undress himself.

Each piece of clothing was removed and folded with careful deliberation. This slow striptease instead of cooling Walter's ardor was driving him crazy. By the time Mulder was slowly folding his jeans he'd had enough. "Damn it, Fox, quit fussing and come to bed or I'm going to get up, throw you over the back of that chair and fu..."

Fox interrupted, "Promise? When you're feeling better I'll take you up on it." He grinned over at Walter and quickly stripped off his briefs throwing them carelessly on the floor and got into bed.

It had been so long, but Fox was gentle and careful, not wanting to hurt his boss anymore. As Walter tried to participate more he was shoved down gently on to the bed and told to relax and enjoy himself. Mulder's mouth began to work it's way down from his lips. When Fox reached the new abdominal scar he kissed it gently and stopped. Walter felt a different kind of moisture on his stomach. A few tears had escaped Mulder's eyes. He reached down gently stroking Fox's face and hair. 

"It's all right... we're both alive and together. That's enough." At his words Fox smiled and proceeded lower. Soon all thought left Walter and he was filled with sensations. Release had rarely seemed so sweet when it came or so loud. 

Mulder rose up to lay by his side and whispered, "Nice not to have to worry about the neighbors. Isn't it?" Skinner was a bit embarrassed, but thought, 'What the hell.'

 Walter prepared to return the favor when he was stopped by Fox. "That's too hard on you. Give it another week."

"But I don't want to leave you hanging."

"You still have your hands don't you?" Fox grinned in reply.

Walter smiled back and proceeded to demonstrate. It had been a long time for Fox as well and his release was not quiet either. Leaning over and kissing him, his boss teased. "We might have to worry about the neighbors."

Mulder only smiled in reply. They fell asleep in each others arms.

  
Coming awake to someone gently shaking him, Walter opened his eyes to see Fox Mulder dressed and sitting beside him. He leaned over and they shared a long kiss before Mulder spoke. "I've got to head out so that I can make work on time. My boss is a real hard ass about being late."

"If he gives you any shit just tell him to fuck you."

"Been there, done that. Planning a repeat performance soon."

"Next weekend?"

"Hopefully. If I can hold out that long."

Walter smiled and nodded in agreement. 'It was going to be a long week.'

"I didn't want you to wake up and find me gone without saying good-bye."

"Thanks. There's an extra garage door remote in the drawer in the utility room, take that. You've got the alarm codes and the extra key already."

Fox nodded. He seemed hesitant, like he wanted to say something but couldn't get up the nerve. 

Walter raised his hand to gently stroke the side of Fox's face. Fox took strength from that and leaning over kissed his boss again and then whispered in his ear. "Love you," touching his face gently before getting up and leaving. 

Fini  
For now. Any interest in a sequel?

 

* * *

 

From: <>  
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative  
Subject: CHANCES ARE By Alex Jones and E  
Date: 6 May 1996 18:03:03 GMT

RATING-- NC-17 SLASH M/M  
THIRD SEASON SPOILERS  
Hello. I'm posting this for a friend who is off line so if you want to write, you'll have to do so through me. I'll pass the messages along.   
Okay--major league warning. This is NC-17.... no ifs ands or butts about it. And it is about a romance between two MALE X-file characters. So if that sort of thing grosses you out stop now or hold your peace. Feedback is appreciated. And encouragement makes us write more and faster.  
Thanks to JL, MB, and my co-conspirator E for writing, reading, commenting, and encouragement. And to the MSC [masked sex consultant] for spicing things up a bit.  
Usual disclaimer. These characters are not mine. They belong to Chris Carter and 1013 Productions and he would probably have a cow if he knew what we did with them. Definitely a large bull calf. No money is being made off of their use. This story may be circulated but please leave the author's name and address attached.  
This story is the sequel to Taking Chances. And if you're nice and encourage us, we have three others in the planning stage. It just takes time to write.  
After having a few people read it a couple said basically we didn't know what was going on at the beginning of the story... It was a bit confusing Well that's sort ta the point... the story starts out with the main characters flashing back to a previous fight... you get each of their perspectives and then you get to figure out what was really going on... at least sort of... Truth is subjective afterall. So if you find yourself not understanding the fight at first that's okay that's the idea. Gives the characters the chance to reflect.

* * *

Chances II: Chances Are   
By Alex Jones and E  


Fox Mulder's Apartment   
10:30 PM Friday Night

Friday night and Fox Mulder was disgusted with himself. He was doing laundry. Walking through his apartment collecting clothes he thought, `Shit. There has to be something better than this.' Yeah, there was something better but he wouldn't allow himself to think about it. Refused to allow himself to dwell on what he'd rather--no, make that could--be doing. 

He'd made it through last weekend, so this weekend should be easier. `Yeah, right. I was out of town last weekend. --You could have been home.-- That was the whole point in staying away from home.' He argued with himself. `It was supposed to get easier. --Well, it hasn't!' Fox Mulder kept thinking about the six previous weekends spent at his lover's house. `Six weekends in a row, I must be nuts!'

He couldn't remember enjoying himself that much in a long time. Weekends were normally a lonely time to get through until he could go back to work. At first, getting back to work just meant keeping busy, but since Dana had joined the X-files it meant having a friend, someone to talk to and laugh with, someone who understood his jokes. The edge had been removed from the loneliness, but eight weeks ago everything had changed. He'd begun sleeping with his boss. A year ago, six months even, if someone had told him he'd be involved with his boss, he would have suggested that they seek psychiatric help. Hell, he would have had them committed. But then had come a flood, sharing a hotel room, and a night where their guards had slipped. That had been several months ago and at the end of that week, they had decided not to continue the relationship--too risky, especially for the AD--but then so much had happened, so many close calls for both of them, that they'd decided that the rewards were worth the risks. So for six weekends in a row, they had been together at Walter's house. 

`Damn, it had been good. Yeah, good sex... that was all it was about.' As he threw the last dirty t-shirt in--how the hell it had gotten in the refrigerator he didn't know--the little voice in his head answered, `Yeah, right.' Deep down he knew that it was about alot more than sex, but now that it was over he refused to acknowledge that fact. The truth was too painful.

Making his way down to the basement, he tried not to think about what he was feeling, tried not to let himself feel. `I'm not feeling anything,' he kept telling himself. `It was over. Over! Over! Over!' And the little voice echoed, `Yeah, right.' Entering the laundry room, he realized that there was one benefit to doing laundry on Friday nights: no one else was so pathetic as to have nothing else to do, so he could do all of it at once. He began sorting it into three of the five machines, his motions abrupt and angry. The little voice taunted him. `Going to show that laundry what for... give it to it good... teach it never to get dirty again.' 

He came to a dress shirt that had accidentally gotten into the laundry basket, shoving it aside for a trip to the cleaners--no way was he going to iron the damn things. Finished sorting and adding soap, he slammed the washer lids down. As he shoved the coins in, he managed to jam up one machine and banged his hand good getting it unstuck. `Stupid. What the fuck do you think you're doing? Just what I need--calling Scully over because I broke something tangling with a damned washing machine. Have enough trouble explaining injuries incurred in the line of duty.' Thinking of Scully cheered him slightly, so he managed to calm down and get the last machine started.

Picking up the shirt, he wondered about it. It didn't look like one of his; the neck size was wrong. It had little contrasting white on white pinstripes, not his style. `Now, where did it...?' Suddenly remembering where and, more importantly, whose it was, he dropped it quickly back in the basket. `Shit.' The events of a Monday morning three weeks ago came rushing back. 

Spending the weekend at Walter's house, he'd decided to stay until Monday morning. Most of the time he left to go back to his apartment Sunday night, but some days, especially after a particularly difficult week, they couldn't stand to... `No, can't think about it... him that way.' He'd begun bringing over a suit on Fridays just in case, so that he could leave straight for work if he decided to stay Sunday night. 

Actually, he'd begun to leave quite a number of his things at Walter's. After all, he spent more waking hours there than at his own place. And his friend had slowly been making room in his house for Fox: a drawer in the dresser, space in the closet, a shelf in the medicine cabinet, and even a parking space in the three car garage--all had begun to indicate that both of them were regarding this as more than a temporary commitment. Looking back on the last couple of months, he couldn't believe himself. He'd had a few relationships over the years and usually so much as a suggestion from the woman that he should leave a toothbrush at her place and you could see the skidmarks from where he roared off in sheer terror. 

`Well, maybe Scully broke me in.' He had a toothbrush, underwear, and a pair of sweats at her apartment and that hadn't terrified him. Of course, they weren't involved. `Not that I wouldn't like to be...' But Fox found himself amazed that he'd so readily allowed himself to move into Walter's house and life. But it had seemed so natural... just a matter of convenience really. He needed research material so he brought a few books, and of course he needed to work on the computer some, so creating a few directories for himself only made sense, and then there was that weekend that things had turned cold all of a sudden and he'd had to borrow a sweatshirt from Walt. The next weekend he'd brought some clothes in case the weather changed. None of the little moves had seemed to be much of a commitment but, now looking back at all these things taken together, they had indicated quite a shift. The revelation suddenly hit him that had things gone on another couple of months, they'd probably be living together. `Hell, we already were on the weekends or at least we had been. No, I refuse to think about that...'

His mind wandered back to the shirt. He'd brought a suit and shirt for Monday but hadn't noticed that the shirt he had grabbed had a grease spot on the back. Heck, as dirty as his car was, it could have happened on the way over. Walter had given... loaned... him a shirt. Except for the neck, they were much the same size. His boss's neck was an inch larger and Fox laughed at the memory. No one at the Bureau had noticed that the shirt wasn't his. Instead, they commented that as thin as he was, he really shouldn't be losing any more weight. After Mulder had left a morning meeting, Skinner's secretary had even gone so far as to comment to her boss that maybe he should see to it that Agent Mulder get a physical, since he looked like he was losing weight that he couldn't afford to lose. They'd met for dinner that night and Walter had barely been able to stop laughing as he teased Mulder about how he seemed to bring out the mothering instincts in women.

Mulder's train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of one of his neighbors. Medium height, dark blond hair, kind of pretty, she smiled at him. He smiled back. She'd moved in a couple of months ago and had been showing a lot of interest. Actually, if he hadn't already been involved, he might have been interested in dating her. But he had been involved, even though he couldn't tell her that, and he wasn't about to mess things up with Walter. `Well, they sure were fucked up now.' But he still couldn't stir up any interest. He reached down for the most recent Lone Gunman and tried to read. He was oblivious to her pout and frown when she struck out at picking him up. He had no idea that she had decided to do laundry because she'd seen him headed toward the laundry room, nor was he aware that she was stuffing her clothes in rather huffily. Slamming the lid and starting the machines, she left. 

Catching her look as she stormed out of the laundry room, he realized that he had just missed the chance at something better to do on Friday night. He tried to work up a bit of disappointment or even the desire to try picking her up when she returned to move her laundry from washer to dryer, but he couldn't seem to care. `Great. Now I'm gay.'

He knew that wasn't it, but all of this was so strange. He'd never been seriously involved with a man before... well, yeah, he'd noticed when they looked good, and had experimented with kissing a few in high school. But even Christopher, the English friend he'd had a relationship with after the break-up with Phoebe, hadn't really touched him deep within. When he thought about it there was only three people that had touched his heart. The first had been Phoebe--she'd almost destroyed him, the second Dana, and now there was Walter. He picked up Walter's shirt and began to idly play with it. `Okay, maybe if I face it once and for all I can get over it. Get him out of my system.' The little voice answered, `Fat chance.'

Thinking back to the day when it had all blown up in his face, he tried to decide what to do.

Ten Days Earlier  
Walter Skinner's Office

He was standing before Skinner with Agent Albert Allingham, getting reamed out by the AD. Allingham's partner, who was helping Mulder out on the case, had been found dead. As usual, Mulder hadn't gotten the proper approvals or done the paperwork yet. No report had been filed and now someone was dead and they would have to answer for it. At the start, Fox hadn't been too upset at his boss's words; the shock and guilt of finding out that another agent was dead had numbed the pain. He knew that when he went off chasing X-files, there was the risk that if something went wrong, he'd get called on the carpet. But he'd also thought that both he and Skinner accepted that the speed necessary to handle these type of cases often prohibited going through the proper channels. This had been part of their understanding for a long time and it certainly predated the more intimate relationship that had recently developed.

But Skinner didn't or couldn't stop with the normal reprimand. Mulder suddenly realized that Skinner was really angry and, as he listened to the meaning behind the words, he realized that Walter was accusing him of abusing their relationship, of taking advantage of the more personal bent their relationship had taken. Looking over at the other agent, Mulder realized that Allingham didn't understand the meaning behind the AD's words, but Fox did. He looked down and stared at the floor again. Skinner's accusations hurt like hell, especially since he knew that they were undeserved. Since he and Walter had been involved, he'd bent over backwards to make sure every `i' was dotted and every `t' was crossed. `How could Walter think that I would use him so?' His words had seemed to imply that Mulder didn't give a damn about anyone else and that the only reason he'd gotten involved was for a bit of a diversion and to be able to take advantage of his boss. Sleep his way up the ladder, so to speak, or at least to get what he wanted. 

Trying to defend himself at first, Fox had finally grown very still and quiet, not bothering to again raise his eyes. When the AD's tirade was over, he had asked if that was all and had left. But he knew at that moment that whatever they had was over and done with. Fox would never be able to forget the cruel words and their implication that he was some kind of whore, selling himself to get the Assistant Director to do what he wanted. After all they had shared the last six weeks, Mulder didn't know how Skinner could feel that way, but it was obvious that he did. His boss couldn't really have cared for him if he could say those things--believe those things--about him, so Mulder had left.

Going straight to his office, he had quickly filled out all the forms, making sure that they were perfect, and then had written out a detailed report of the last two days' events, ending with the death of the suspect. Finishing up, he gave it to Scully, who had just made it back from Chicago, and asked her to double-check it for facts, sign off on it, and then drop it by Skinner's office. He didn't want to risk seeing Skinner again. He was too damn mad and, although he wouldn't admit it, too hurt to face Assistant Director Walter Skinner again. 

Checking his watch, he saw that it was 3:30. He told Scully he had some personal business to attend to, and then he'd hastened out of the building. He didn't want time to change his mind about what he had decided to do. Driving straight over to Skinner's house, he pulled into the garage and used his key to let himself in. He'd gone through the house, methodically collecting all his things and loading them into his car. It was surprising how much stuff he had moved over in so short a time. He'd even gotten on the AD's computer, downloaded, and then erased all of the files that he'd accumulated there. Again checking his watch--5 o'clock--he thought, `Good, I'll be gone before there's any chance of him making it home.' He made one final pass through the house, tossing the spare toothbrush that Walter had given him into the bathroom trash. He swallowed at that action. It seemed so final, but he knew that he couldn't be involved with someone who only thought he was using him for his own ends. 

As a final gesture, he'd left the key on the kitchen counter. He'd had to keep the garage door opener because there was no way to let himself out and lock up without it or a key. He'd meant to send the opener back in the mail, but remembered he'd never gotten around to it. It was still sitting in the glove compartment of his car. As his reverie broke, he realized that the washers had stopped and that he was clutching the shirt--Walter's shirt--for dear life, and asking himself for what must have been the thousandth time how he could have been so mistaken about somebody. That had taken place ten days ago and not a word had been exchanged between them since. And if they happened to see each other in the halls--the Washington Bureau wasn't so vast that they could avoid each other--the looks they exchanged were cold and distant. Not even a nod.

Mulder had arranged to spend the past weekend out of town and even then it had been hard because the case was done, for the most part. He and Scully could have come home, but he had dragged it out. Scully had been a rock through all of this. He knew that she didn't know what was going on but she had supported him by being there and keeping him occupied. Even tonight, she had offered to cancel her dinner date with her brother and his wife, but Mulder had told her to please go ahead, he had laundry to do. 

`Yeah, right. If she had made the offer a couple of hours later, I would have taken her up on it.' He'd been returning from a late lunch and heard Skinner's laughter across the foyer. Looking up, he'd seen a man with his arm around the AD, giving him a bear hug. Fox had turned white and then red with jealousy. The AD had looked up and seen the cold, hard look that Mulder gave him, and for just an instant Fox had thought he'd seen pain cross Walter's face. The woman who was with the man proceeded to hug the AD as well and then took the man's arm. These actions had abated Mulder's jealousy somewhat, but his reaction had shaken him.

For the last week, he'd been lying to himself, telling himself that he could handle it, that he could live with the break-up, but the pain and jealousy he'd felt at that instant told him that the hurt was way too deep and that he hadn't really accepted that it was over. He'd begun to cool off some and wonder why Walter had said the things he had. `Maybe we should talk. Maybe I misunderstood.' Fox knew that the AD's outward demeanor at work was no way to judge what was going on in his mind. He'd found out from the last time that whatever was going on internally would not be reflected in any manner at work by Skinner. He was too adept at controlling his emotions and hiding his feelings. Mulder was beginning to realize that before he could let go and move on, he had to find out if that was what Walter wanted as well. 

He looked at the idle machines and then at his watch: 11:30. Drying would take at least an hour... Making a decision, he quickly began to unload the machines.

end part 1

Part 2

Walter Skinner's Apartment  
Friday Night, 11:00 PM 

Assistant Director Walter Skinner sat in his den contemplating the whiskey bottle before him. He wasn't normally a drinker, but he needed sleep and tonight he was nowhere near getting any. Not any more, at least, and an hour didn't make a dent in what he needed. He made it through the week without drinking but the weekends were damned near impossible. Even knowing that Fox was out of town last weekend hadn't helped ease his desire, so he'd drunk whiskey both Friday and Saturday nights to help him sleep. Well, he'd slept, all right, but hadn't felt much better for it the mornings after. So he had vowed to himself that this weekend he wouldn't drink.

`Sure.' Well, he might have been able to keep that vow if he hadn't seen Fox at work today. The cold, hard look his agent had shot him had left him feeling empty inside. Knowing that it was deserved didn't help any. He thought back to the Wednesday morning ten days ago when it had all started. 

He'd gotten into the office around 7:30 to find an emergency message from the head of the Baltimore field office, asking him to call ASAP. An agent had been found burned beyond recognition at a storage warehouse. The FBI seal could be made out on his ID, but not the name, and the agent's wallet was gone. There were two agents working in the Baltimore area who matched the description that couldn't be contacted: one was Agent Peter Sayers, who worked out of the Baltimore office; the other was Special Agent Fox Mulder who had been working with Sayers and his partner Allingham on a strange case in Baltimore over the last couple of days. The head of the Baltimore office thought that Skinner should be apprised since Mulder worked out of DC. He informed the AD that they had requested dental records and would have the identity of the agent in two to four hours.

Knowing that they had already tried to reach Fox at home and on his cellular didn't stop Skinner from trying himself. Then he called Scully. She was out of town following up another lead in Chicago and hadn't heard from Mulder since early yesterday evening. Yes, she had expected to hear from him before now but if he got tied up, he'd wait to call until he was sure she was awake. There was definitely a touch of sarcasm in her voice. Walter figured that that meant he'd probably woken her up. Skinner didn't inform her that Mulder might be dead. No need to worry her when she couldn't do anything about it anyway. He told her to have Mulder contact him ASAP if she heard from him and quickly got off the phone. 

Unable to reach Fox, the frustration built. He began to feel ill and barely made it to the bathroom in time to relieve his stomach of his morning meal. He was breathing hard and felt dizzy and glad that no one else was yet around. Having been beaten up and shot in the line of duty, he knew the symptoms of shock but in this case the only treatment was to find Fox Mulder. Passing his assistant, Kimberly, as he returned to his office, he told her to cancel all his morning appointments, knowing that in his condition he'd never be able to concentrate or get anyone to believe that nothing was wrong. He tried his e-mail and checked his in-box, hoping that Mulder had filed some kind of report that would give his boss some idea where he might be... other than on that goddamn cold slab in the coroner's office in Baltimore, having his insides cut open.

For the longest three hours of his life, Walter Skinner paced his office, not even pretending to work, waiting for a call to come in telling him whether or not the body on the slab was that of Fox Mulder. He tried every half hour or so to contact him on the cellular, on his home phone, even at his office, although the word had been put out to the guards and other personnel that Mulder was to contact the AD the minute he came in. All Walter could do was pray that he would show up. The call had come in at 10:30 from the Baltimore head. The body was that of Field Agent Peter Sayers. `Are you positive?' he had asked. Definitely, he'd been told, the teeth were a perfect match and nothing at all like the x-rays of Agent Mulder's that had been received. The man continued to discuss the findings of the autopsy, but Walter Skinner heard none of it. He was barely aware of hanging up the phone and taking deep breaths. His relief at the news was as much of a shock to his system as the original news had been. It had taken him well over fifteen minutes to be able to collect himself. 

But then he did the next most natural thing in the world. He began to get absolutely furious at Fox Mulder. Mulder was self-centered and egotistical. He didn't care about anything and anyone else... didn't take care of himself... was always risking himself... never thinking of what it would do to those who loved him. Of the devastation that they would feel... the emptiness of their lives. He was thinking about himself and Dana Scully. He was becoming more sure by the week that she loved Mulder as well.

This--what had happened--had brought it all to a head, but it had been brewing for weeks. Several weeks earlier, the partners had let slip who Modell's second target had been in the game of Russian Roulette at the hospital. Their original reports had glossed over it, but during a meeting Scully had been angry at Mulder. Skinner had gently probed and her partner had cracked a joke and she had blown up at him. One too many close calls. It seemed that he had taken a risk that she had felt was unnecessary in apprehending a suspect and Mulder had disagreed. The ensuing fight had led to her mentioning Modell and the fact that Mulder hadn't even fought to save his own life. As Walter got a more detailed picture, he had been disturbed by Fox's actions--more disturbed than he wanted to admit. `Why hadn't he fought harder? Doesn't he know what his death would do to me, and to Scully?'

Today had made the AD feel devastated... totally out of control. Losing Fox Mulder would... he wouldn't contemplate it but he couldn't stop himself from being so angry. The emotions had to go somewhere. Since Mulder showed up with Agent Allingham, Walter couldn't touch him like he wanted to, so he let it all out in anger.

He had started coolly and rationally, but it had quickly accelerated to the point that his tongue was biting and he was saying things that he didn't mean... hell, he was barely listening to his own rant because a part of him was too busying feasting on the joy of having a live Fox Mulder in front of him. But toward the end, as his anger burned out, he had looked into Fox's face and seen the pain and hurt that his words had caused. The glimpse had been brief--Fox was also a master at hiding what he felt--but it had been enough for Walter to realize that he'd gone too far. Skinner had planned on asking Allingham to leave so that he could have a minute alone with Mulder, and let him know that he was glad that he was alive, but before he could say anything else, Mulder had stiffly excused himself and left. 

Allingham had asked for a word with Skinner and since he couldn't very well run after Mulder down the hall, Skinner had listened. Allingham felt that the AD was being unfair to Mulder. They had both been upset when they had heard that Sayers had been killed, but Mulder had not been careless with Sayers' life, or with his own, for that matter. Mulder had warned him and Sayers that the man they were chasing had special pyrokinetic abilities and urged them to stay at least fifteen feet away form him and to call for back-up if any leads came in while Mulder and Allingham were off following another clue. Skinner could still hear Allingham's words, "We should have listened to Mulder. I should have listened but we were both so full of Spooky Mulder jokes and how the man had to have a screw loose to have the theory that he did. But, hell, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The man literally seemed to shoot fire..."

Allingham had talked to the Baltimore Office's head about the crime scene and it was apparent that Sayers had gone forward without back-up and had ignored Mulder's warning. "I don't want to criticize my partner, but as far as we were concerned Agent Mulder's warnings were ridiculious, neither of us believed him, and Peter ended up paying the price. We're good agents but not used to the bizarre. I'm lucky that Mulder was with me when we cornered the suspect two hours ago. I was careless and have a ruined coat and some singed hair to show for it. If Mulder hadn't fired when he did, I'd have ended up just like Peter." He'd taken a deep breath and concluded. "I just thought you should know that Agent Mulder didn't regard life lightly as you seemed to imply. We just didn't take him seriously enough." With those words, he turned and left. The loss of his partner had hurt him deeply but Spooky Mulder had saved his life and didn't deserve what the AD had said.

Walter had then thought back on what he'd said to Mulder and realized the implications of his words. He'd been determined to apologize for them but hadn't been able to locate Fox by the time his meetings had finished up. Sighing, he had gone home at the end of the day.

The minute he'd walked in the door, he could tell something was wrong. Was it the fact that the house didn't feel stuffy like it normally did after he'd been gone all day, or did Walter somehow know instinctively that he'd hurt Fox too deeply for the agent to ignore it? He knew when he saw the key on the kitchen counter that Fox was breaking off the relationship. A cursory examination of the house only confirmed the fact. Standing in the master bathroom, he pulled Fox's toothbrush from the trash, understanding the finality of the gesture.

Looking back, Walter knew that he should have gone straight over to Fox's right then and explained and apologized for all that he had said. He should have asked Mulder to take him back, but pride and fear when joined together were a powerful combination and he decided that it was for the best that he and Fox were no longer going to see each other. No more pain, no more devastation if something happened to Fox. So Walter Skinner told himself that he didn't give a damn and that it was better for both of them.

He hadn't had a decent night's sleep since then. If he got four hours a night, he was lucky and last weekend had been a nightmare. How could he have gotten so used to having someone around in a mere six weeks? He'd tried everything from working to running in an effort to wear himself out so that he could sleep. In the end, at 2 o'clock on Saturday morning, he had given in and drunk the whiskey. He'd felt like hell most of Saturday but again that night he'd used it to dull the pain. All day Sunday, he'd felt miserable. He'd gotten even less sleep that night because he refused to go to work with a hangover so he hadn't drunk anything. The rest of the week had passed in much the same manner. Little sleep, until exhaustion took over, and then he only got enough to cut the edge. Tonight he'd collapsed on the couch and had slept for an hour before he woke from a dream. In it he saw Mulder's face across the lobby of the Hoover building, looking cold and distant, ignoring him as he called to him to stop and then suddenly bursting into flames. He'd woken up shouting and hadn't even contemplated lying down again until now, several hours later.

`What was Mulder thinking about all of this?' he kept asking himself. Was he relieved at the distance now between them? He and Fox had talked a lot over the last few months. Walter was well aware that his friend was used to being alone and that their relationship often left him disconcerted and at times uncomfortable. He'd thought that the rewards of their closeness would have overcome the discomfort, but maybe not. Maybe Fox was happier--or at least more content--this way, with no one in his life to answer to, to be close to.

Walter Skinner sighed, poured himself a tumbler of whiskey, and began to drink it down.

Walter Skinner's House  
12:15 AM

Fox Mulder pushed the button and waited, almost surprised when the garage door actually responded. In the back of his mind, he supposed that Skinner would have changed the code, but apparently he hadn't. Getting out of the car, Mulder turned on the garage light before hitting the button to close the door. He knocked on the door but there was no answer. Trying the door to the house, he was surprised to find it open. Knocking again as he entered, he locked the door behind him and looked around. The kitchen was spotless. `Looks like he's not into cooking much for one.'

That had been a joke between them since both of them could cook but almost never did on their own. `No fun for just one person.' Mulder called out Walter's name but got no answer. `Well, it's after midnight--he's probably gone up to bed.' Fox felt a little peeved at this since he certainly hadn't been able to get much sleep since their fight. He didn't even notice his shift in attitude. Before, he'd been calling it their break-up; now it was just their fight. He headed up to the master bedroom, knocking and calling out Walter's name. Opening the door and turning on the light, he saw an unmade bed but no sign of the other man. `This must be having some effect on Mr. Neatnick.' Skinner normally insisted on making his bed every day, even when, as Fox had often pointed out, they were just going to be messing it up again in a few hours. He could remember kissing Walter's neck and whispering, "Or do you plan to abstain til tonight?" His boss had thrown him a put-upon look, but Mulder's smirk said that he knew he was right--they'd be messing it up before the afternoon was out.

Mulder was in a quandary. Should he stay or go? He knew Walter wasn't expecting him, but he wanted to get this over with one way or another. He figured he'd never have the courage to do this again if he left, and he really didn't want to leave. On the other hand, he'd seen Skinner with guests at the Hoover building today. It was possible that he could come back to the house with them either for a nightcap or for them to spend the night. They'd never be able to explain Mulder's presence if that were to happen. In the end, he decided that he would leave and call Skinner tomorrow to see if he was interested in talking.

As he walked down the hall toward the kitchen, he heard a sound from the study. Could that be Walter? He'd called out earlier; why hadn't Walter answered? Going quickly into the room, Fox took in the scene. Skinner was lying on the couch, passed out cold, from the looks of the empty water glass tumbler and the almost empty bottle of whiskey. The damn bottle had been three-quarters full the last time Mulder was there. He remembered because they had both had miserable colds and Walter had prepared a hot drink for both of them with it. He'd opened a new fifth to do so. `How long has he been doing this?' Mulder wondered. 

Kneeling down beside Walter's prone form, Fox gently shook him. "Come on, Walter, wake up." It took a couple of shakes but eventually Skinner's eyes blurrily opened.

He groaned and covered his eyes with his arm, not saying anything.

"Come on, Walt. Let's get you to bed. Take my word for it--that couch isn't very comfortable."

"Go away and let me sleep. Haven't had a decent night's sleep since you left."

"Neither have I and I sure as hell won't fit on that couch with you. How much have you had to drink?"

"Not so much as I should be ha... hallu... llucina... ting you." He stumbled over the word but Fox got the idea. "God get me through this night and I'll never drink again. Even if I never sleep again." Mulder had managed to get Walter to sit up, but getting him to stand was proving difficult.

"You're not hallucinating me. I came over to talk but that'll have to wait till in the morning." Fox paused and then continued, "On second thought, considering your condition, probably not till tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm not that drunk." The words were carefully and slowly enunciated. "I was worse last weekend but the lack of sleep combined with the whiskey..." His voice trailed off with the effort of standing. He groaned loudly.

"How often to you do this?" Mulder asked worriedly.

"Only on the weekends when you should be here." His voice was softly accusing. "You shouldn't have left... you don't understand... I didn't mean it... not the way you thought... was just so upset..."

"Yeah, I know you were upset. That's hardly news to me." 

Walter heard the hurt and anger still in Mulder's voice. `Hell, he may be just an hallucination but he was going to get an apology anyway.' Maybe with enough practice he'd get the courage up to do it to the real thing. "Don't understand... so upset... devastated... all morning..." Why couldn't he collect his thoughts, why wouldn't they come together?

"Devastated? Didn't know that you knew Sayers. I'm sorry if he was your friend..."

"No... no... NO...! Not Sayers, you..."

"What do you mean? You're not making any sense."

"Came to work... got call... agent dead... you or Sayers... didn't know for three hours wasn't you. Couldn't find you... called everywhere... even Scully... nobody knew... nobody had seen... Sick to my stomach..." Walter Skinner's voice faded out. They were halfway up the stairs but Fox stopped dead in his tracks. Skinner fought to maintain his balance--the room was spinning. `Drunker than I thought. Should have eaten first.'

"You mean to say that you spent that morning thinking I might be dead?" His arm tightened around Walter's waist as the full impact of what he had said sunk in. Walter didn't look up, he merely nodded, it had taken most of his energy to get out his last semi-coherent speech. "For heaven's sake, why didn't you tell me?"

"Wanted to... would have grabbed you and held you... even in the damn office... wanted to so bad... never let go... but you had to bring Allingham... so took it all out... anger..."

"Why didn't you come to me later?"

"Wanted to... planned to... damn meetings... wanted to hold you so bad... kiss you... but got home found your key... It's yours, don't want it back... want you back. Stay tonight... Please." His arm tightened around Fox's shoulder. "Got scared... never cared so much for anyone... never hurt so fuckin' much... told self better if not close..." They had entered the master bedroom and stopped by the bed, Walter looked Fox straight in the eye and concluded, "Not better... at all." With that his eyes closed and he passed out. 

Fox eased him gently down on to the bed, managing to undress him and get him under the covers. He then removed his own clothes down to his boxers, crawled into bed with him, and pulled Walter close. He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

Walter Skinner's House   
10:30 AM Saturday 

Walter Skinner awoke Saturday, late morning, with one monumental headache. First he groaned and then he sighed. `How the hell did I get up to bed?' He'd dreamed about Fox last night and he knew now that no matter what the end result, he was going to find him today and talk to him. One way or another this had to be resolved. He started to roll over onto his back when he realized that there was a weight around his middle and a warmth pressed into his back. Managing finally to focus, he realized that it was an arm. A very familiar arm. He was afraid to hope as he turned slowly over to find Fox Mulder curled up in bed next to him. `No wonder I slept so late.' Smiling, he suddenly felt very relaxed.

He lay for a long time just watching Fox sleep. He'd always enjoyed doing this before, but this morning it held an added pleasure. Raising a hand, he gently stroked Fox's hair and face. Beautiful... men weren't supposed to be beautiful, but right then Walter couldn't think of a better word. After a while, Fox began to stir. 

Women, he had found, need words to make up, but men--well, this one, anyway--didn't have the words. He found that he desperately needed to make love to the man before him, to receive Fox's forgiveness via his body. Walter gently leaned over and kissed Fox. It didn't take long before Fox was responding, kissing and touching him with all the love and passion he had so missed and ached for. The few clothes they had on were quickly discarded. Neither could seem to touch the other enough. Every inch of their bodies was explored. The longer they went on, the wilder they got, each fighting for the chance to touch, kiss, and hold the other. 

Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Walter rolled Fox over, grabbed the tube of Astroglide, and squirted some of the oil into his hand. He spread it on his cock and then squirted some more onto his fingers and applied it between Fox's cheeks. He rubbed the lubricant over Fox's anus and then slipped a finger inside him as Fox moaned. Walter continued using his finger to stimulate his partner as Fox buried his face in the pillow. Gently placing the head of his cock against Fox's anus, Walter grasped Fox's hips and began the deep penetration.

Fox groaned and arched his back. It had only been a couple of weeks but it seemed like an eternity. The agent smiled to himself. Walter had been driven so wild that he'd forgotten a condom... and he was normally so careful and controlled. A laugh of triumph rose up out of Fox's throat as he pushed against Walter to take more of his cock inside--seems that Walter was as wild about him as he was about Walter. After that, all thoughts fled and the rest was only feeling and sensation as their bodies moved together.

Reaching under the man beneath him, Walter began to stroke Fox's erection until he was moaning in ecstasy. Walter lay down on Fox's back, their faces cheek to cheek, and slipped his other hand beneath Fox, grasping his balls and massaging gently. Fox came with a loud groan and then lay still. Lifting himself up on his arms, Walter repositioned himself and took Fox by the hips again. He looked down, admiring his lover's well-muscled back. He ran one hand along Fox's spine, tracing the vertebrae, and then continued down to his ass, following the curve of one cheek. 

The sight of Fox below, so lovingly submissive, excited him tremendously. Walter began to quicken his thrusts, grasping Fox's hips harder, finally coming with a soft moan. Breathing heavily, he rolled off of the younger man, and then reached over and pulled Fox into his arms, kissing him lingeringly. They held each other for a few moments and then Walter kissed Fox's cheek and gently extricated himself from the other man's embrace. "Just a sec," he said, getting out of bed and going into the bathroom. He returned a few minutes later and again drew Fox into his arms. Neither man said a word as they both fell into a contented sleep.

end part 2

Part 3

The room was dark as Fox Mulder slowly came back to awareness. He glanced over and saw that the drapes were pulled, so there was no way to tell what time it was. He was too lazy to raise up and look at the bedside clock. It sounded like there was a thunderstorm raging outside. He relaxed into the cleft of his companion's shoulder, and let his hand slowly begin to stroke Walter's chest and stomach. With each stroke, his hand wandered farther afield and lower. 

He wondered if Walter was awake yet. Deciding that it really didn't matter, he continued his gentle exploration. Mulder wondered if Walt would be over his hangover enough to talk. They had a lot to talk about, but Fox now felt confident that they could work it out. `Course the hangover certainly hadn't interfered with his performance this morning.' Sighing at the memory, he thought that he'd rather enjoyed having his companion lose control like that. Skinner tended to be a bit controlling and conservative and Fox wondered if he could get him to experiment and play a little. 

Fox Mulder had never really felt comfortable enough in a relationship to explore some of those erotic fantasies that everyone had. He wasn't sure he was comfortable enough in this relationship yet but he was beginning to think that someday he might be. He smiled at the thought as his hand stroked Walter's hip and upper thigh. `Sheesh, the man was built.' And Fox was coming to the conclusion that he really liked muscles... at least Skinner's muscles... and his nice tight ass and flat stomach... and... He allowed his hands to follow his thoughts, gently stroking the now rigid flesh. 

`Hmmmm? Bet he's awake now.' Fox grinned at the thought. He thought about raising his head and looking up to see Walt's reaction but mentally shrugged off the idea. He was having too much fun doing just what he was doing to want to stop. Besides, it would be interesting to see how long this could go on before one of them lost it and decided to intensify the interaction. He knew that HE was fast reaching that point.

Walter came slowly awake to the feel of someone running a hand gently over his body. `Damn, that feels good,' he thought as he fought to keep from making any noise, not wanting Fox to stop his ministrations. There was no doubt about it--the man could drive him wild. Even with a colossal hangover that morning, Fox had been able to get Walter to totally lose it. Walter couldn't believe he'd been so careless. `Well at least I don't have to worry about getting him pregnant.' He glanced over at the bedside clock and was shocked to see it read 2 pm. He'd never stayed in bed this late; even when he'd been on all night stakeouts, he was always up by noon. `So you got something better to do?' a voice inside his head asked. `Not a damned thing,' another voice answered. There was sure no place he'd rather be. 

By now he was trying hard to ignore the effects Fox's touch was having. Judging from the hardness between his legs, he wasn't having much success. He could tell Mulder was playing with him. That had been an interesting surprise about his lover. Actually there had been a couple of surprises. The first had been how shy and conservative he was, and the second how playful. Fox was a joyful lover. He had so much fun with it and liked to tease and play. 

Quite a dichotomy in his serious agent. It made Walter wonder what he would have been like if his sister had never been taken, his family never torn apart. There was a sensitiveness and vulnerability about Fox, a fragility that often scared him. He realized that that was why he was so often fearful for Fox... it was amazing that underneath his hard, smart-ass, paranoid exterior, there was a core of gentleness and caring. There was a man who desperately wanted to be loved. `How could I have said the things I did to him?' 

For the first time since the day he had verbally abused Fox in his office, he allowed his real feelings to surface. He'd taken his fear and anger out on this gentle soul in his arms, this man who carried the burdens of the world on his shoulders. Walter, knowing that, had still attacked him, had added more to those burdens. He hated himself, hated what he'd done and the fact that he hadn't tried to make it right. That he'd let it go on for so long and would probably still be letting it go on if Fox hadn't had the forgiveness and courage to come to him. `What an ass I am. What a coward.' 

That was really it... he was a coward. He'd loved Fox Mulder for a long time and never had the courage to act on it and even now was still terrified of how out of control it made him feel. Walter wanted... needed to be in control. That need had destroyed another serious relationship. He'd loved Mary Elisabeth with all his heart, but when she had insisted on going to medical school he'd thrown a fit. Boy, had he been stupid and chauvinistic and immature and about a dozen other unflattering adjectives. But he'd come from a very conservative background and had always been taught that the woman stayed at home and the man went out and earned a living. So when she had refused, they had broken up. It was only when he was in his mid-thirties that he realized that the kind of woman who would put up with his expectations and chauvinistic demands didn't attract him in the least. He was attracted by intense, committed, career-oriented women who were very bright. Laughing silently, he realized that Mulder fit all of those descriptions but one. The least important one.

He knew it was fear and pride that had kept him from going to Fox and apologizing. The pride said if you apologize you'll be giving Mulder the upper hand and the fear was that Mulder would find out just how deeply the AD loved him. Walter hated feeling vulnerable and Fox made him feel so open and exposed that he could barely stand it. But laying here, gentle hands teasing his body to awareness, he knew that he was too far gone to ever go back. Together or apart, he loved Fox Mulder and he would be devastated if something happened to him. He knew he'd been a fool to think that being apart would change that. All it had done was to make them both miserable for the last ten days.

Fox's hand began to get bolder and more direct, making it hard for Walter to think. Finally he arched his back and let out a soft moan. Almost immediately he heard a soft laugh from his companion. 

"So I guess that means you're awake," Mulder kidded. "How's your head?" 

"It hurt like hell this morning but it's fine now."

"I've read that sex is good for headaches. Must be true. You mean it's not still morning?"

"If you'd exert yourself a little you'd see that it's two o'clock."

"Hey. You wore me out. Besides I am exerting myself--just not in that direction." Fox increased the pressure and speed of his hand before continuing. "You've got to be kidding, never slept this late. At least not since the time Scully kept me doped up for thirty-six hours."

"Well, you did today. So you want to spend the whole day in bed?" Walter asked, teasing.

"Don't know, think we might get bored?"

Walter grinned at Fox's response. "Oh I don't know, I think we could find something to occupy us. Don't you?"

"Perhaps." Fox replied. His hand was now steadily stroking Walter's erection. He was wondering how long Walter could hold out and pretend that nothing was happening. From the tenseness of the muscles under Fox's cheek and hand, he didn't think that his boss would last much longer. He decided to play some more. Mulder slowed and softened the motion of his hand, released the AD, and began again his gentle exploration of the rest of the body beneath him.

"You're trying to drive me crazy, aren't you, Fox?"

The way that Walter said his name, a sort of low growl deep in his throat, made Fox shiver with arousal. Deciding that one of them was going to have to intensify the encounter, Mulder figured it might as well be him. He rolled over onto Walter and kissed him. Then he proceeded to slide slowly down his torso, kissing all the way until he had taken Walter's cock into his mouth. He sucked at the head, running his tongue over the tip, and then licked his way down the shaft. Nuzzling Walter's balls, Fox reached up stroked the swollen cock. He continued the stroking as he gently kissed the inside of Walter's thighs. It wasn't long before he had Walter writhing beneath him. 

He looked up to see that Walter had grabbed the rails of the headboard and was holding tight. `Soon,' he thought, `very soon. We have to play.' Fox smiled to himself at the thought. Moving back up to Walter's cock, Fox took as much of him in his mouth as he could and then grabbed Walter's hips, pulling him to the side and then on top of him. Walter lifted up on his knees and pushed deeper into Fox's mouth, as Fox relaxed his throat muscles to take more of Walter in. Despite the fact that they had made love only a few hours before, in that position, it didn't take Fox long to take Skinner over the edge. Walter's warm semen filled the back of Fox's mouth and Fox swallowed again and again. 

As Walter rolled over onto his back and returned to himself, he looked up to see Fox sitting up beside him on the bed, smiling in satisfaction. His lover reminded him of a well satisfied cat. `I wouldn't be surprised if he purred.' Skinner shook his head and sighed. `He really loves driving me crazy.' The AD grinned... `One way or another.'

Fox laughed at him, seeming to read his thoughts. "Is that what you had in mind for keeping occupied? See, didn't take long at all."

Walter laughed back, "But we aren't done yet. And this next part might take a while."

Meeting his boss' eyes, Fox gulped. Skinner could be quite a tease if he was in the mood and apparently he was! 

Climbing back on top of Walter, Fox let his own erection roam over the other man's lower body, rubbing it against his belly, thighs, and groin. Before he could begin any serious motion, he found himself flipped over onto his back with Walter on top of him.

`It's time Fox got a taste of his own medicine,' Walter thought. He slowly proceeded to explore Mulder's body with his hands and mouth but Fox was not a patient man. He kept trying to speed his boss up or direct his motions. `Enough is enough.' Walter sat up swiftly and reached into the bedside table for something he didn't use very often but had stored there. Grabbing his extra pair of handcuffs, he took one of Fox's wrists and snapped the metal on, then pulled it up and through the rail of the headboard. Taking Fox's other arm, he snapped the cuff on it.

Walter paused a moment, afraid to meet his agent's eyes. He'd found Fox to be conservative and was afraid that this would be a bit much for him, but it was something he'd wanted to do for a very long time. Finally getting the courage to meet his lover's eyes, he was surprised by what he saw there. There was a hard edge to Fox's look, but he was definitely very aroused. The AD watched him wet his lips with his tongue, saw that his breathing was hard and shallow, he was almost panting and there was a fire in his eyes.

Watching Fox squirm before him incited the same fire in Walter. `Damn.' He felt himself getting hard again. `Next time I'll get the cuffs out at the beginning.' Neither man spoke as Walter began to arouse his helpless agent. He began by stroking his chest and upper arms. Fox was well developed and Skinner enjoyed stroking his lean swimmer's physique. His lips followed his hands. Gently kissing, sucking, and nibbling Fox's neck and chest. Pausing in his exploration he rose up and kissed his agent on the lips his tongue penetrating deeply into Mulder's mouth. He broke off the kiss after a few moments and his mouth followed a path down to Fox's navel. Tonguing it then sucking at it he felt more than heard the helpless man moan.

Walter Skinner had always liked being in control but the power he now had over the handcuffed man beneath him was a turn on unlike any he had ever experienced before. He chuckled as Mulder writhed beneath him lifting his groin up in invitation. 

"Do you want something, Mulder?" He looked up at his agent's face from his position kissing Fox's belly.

At first Fox wouldn't meet his boss' eyes, wouldn't give in to the dominance Walter was showing but as his mouth continued its path downward and he began to nuzzle and lick between Fox's legs the captive agent surrendered. "You! I want you!" He ground out, fighting his need all the way.

"You don't sound ready to me." Walter gently tongued the tip of his penis but pulled away swiftly as Fox bucked up to get him to take more. "Don't be in such a hurry. You need to learn patience."

"Oh god, Walter, please." Fox was truly feeling desperate for release now. He pulled on the cuffs on his wrists.

"Do you want me?" Fox's total loss of control was incredibly arousing for Walter.

"Yes!"

Walter moved sinuously up Mulder's torso. Putting his lips to Fox's ear he whispered, "Are you mine? Do you belong to me?"

"Yes! Only you! Walter please!" He squirmed on the bed trying to intensify the contact with Walter's body.

Finally, knowing that neither of them could take it any more, Walter knelt between Fox's legs placing one leg over each of his shoulders and again entered the man beneath him. The look on the younger man's face was one of pure pleasure. He cried out and and raised his body up to meet Walter's thrust for thrust.

Fox Mulder had never felt so out of control, so mad with desire. Each pull of the handcuffs on his wrists served to remind him of his total surrender to the man above him. Being owned so, being mastered, both fulfilled and terrified him. Walter's being filled his mind and he could neither see nor think of anyone or anything else. The pressure of his lover's hand on his erection finally became too much and he could prolong the pleasure no longer. He came with a sobbing scream that was followed after two quick thrusts by one of his partner's own. Walter collapsed on top of Fox, and lay still for several minutes.

Fox's first comment made him laugh. "Hey, Walt, this isn't a Stephen King novel. You didn't have a heart attack, did you?"

Skinner's head was resting on Fox's chest, his body between the younger man's legs, and Fox could feel his breath tickle as he laughed. "What's the matter, Mulder, afraid you might have trouble explaining your predicament?"

"I'd just tell them something teleported me in. I went to sleep in my apartment and when I woke up I was handcuffed here."

"Naked?"

"Well I never said I slept in anything..." Fox grinned up at Walter.

"Yeah right. You ever find anyone to believe those theories, Mulder, you let me know. I've got some swampland just ready for the right developer. Now let's see where did I put those keys? Hmm... I hope this isn't the pair that I lost the keys to. You know, the Bureau changed the model a few years ago and keys are getting harder to find. Hate to have to call out a locksmith."

Mulder rolled his eyes at his boss. Skinner was certainly enjoying himself. `Well, isn't that the point? To be happy and enjoy life for a change?' his inner voice asked and answered, `Yes!' The handcuffs had been quite a surprise for Fox. He hadn't thought that Walter had it in him. `This could prove to be very interesting.' Another surprise for Fox had been how much being restrained had turned him on. The feelings of helplessness, of being out of control, at another person's mercy... Fox couldn't ever remember feeling that wild and that aroused in quite that way. He hoped they'd do it again soon.

Finding the keys, Walter unlocked the cuffs and let Fox up. They exchanged another kiss, in the middle of which one of their stomachs growled. `Man cannot live by sex alone... more's the pity.'

"So I take it you have another appetite that needs sating, Agent Mulder."

"Yes, sir. Although I believe that you're the one with the insatiable appetite." 

Skinner laughed at Fox, leaned over, and kissed him again, whispering, "I think we both are."

Fox laughed back and got up and headed into the bathroom. Using the facilities, and cleaning up he decided to at least rinse his mouth out. It tasted like he'd spent a day swimming at the beach. Turning the water on and getting a drink, he noticed a purple toothbrush in the holder. Could that be his? He knew he had thrown it away, but it sure looked like his... Picking it up he remembered when Skinner had dug it out from the cabinet and given it to him. It was the second or third weekend he'd spent there and he'd forgotten his own. 

"Purple, Walter? Is there something about bad taste you'd like to tell me?" he'd kidded as his boss held the unopened package out to him.

"Beggars can't be choosers, Mulder." At Fox's continued grin, the AD went on to explain as he opened the package. "I was in a hurry and they were selling them in three packs. There was a package with two reds and a blue and that's the one I meant to get but I didn't pay close enough attention so I ended up with two reds and a purple. Look at it this way--no matter how many times I change toothbrushes you'll be sure to know which is your brush."

"Great, I can tell it's my toothbrush because it's the only one in a `fruity' color. Are you trying to make a silent comment here?" Walter had just laughed.

Coming into the bathroom Walter saw Fox holding the toothbrush, looking confused. Their eyes met in the bathroom mirror.

"This looks like mine? That is unless you've taken to buying fruity colors for yourself?"

"It's yours."

"Could have sworn that I threw it away."

They stared long and hard at each other's reflections. Walter finally walked up behind Fox and put his arms around his waist, gently kissing his neck. "Just because you were ready to throw things away doesn't mean that I was."

Mulder leaned back into his embrace but felt a bit upset, almost angry. "Then how come I had to come to you?"

Walter shrugged, not wanting to get into the subject now. "Let's get some breakfast" was his reply. He again met Fox's eyes in the mirror. The look his agent gave him said it wouldn't be put off much longer. Nodding, Skinner let go of Mulder and went to take care of business.

"So how 'bout bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast?" Walter inquired.

"Nothing like getting my cholesterol quota for the week outta the way in one meal. I'd say two thirty is a little late for breakfast."

"Well, you can call it whatever you want but I don't have much in the house to fix that doesn't need thawing out and I'm too hungry to wait. I've somehow managed to work up quite an appetite. Unless you want cold cereal and milk?"

"What kind?"

"Cheerios."

"Honey Nut, Apple, and Cinnamon, or those new frosty ones?"

"Just plain Cheerios."

"Yuck. No thanks. I prefer a little sugar to get me going in the mornings..."

"Well, as you pointed out it isn't morning. And you're going just fine."

"Bacon, eggs, and toast it is. I hope you've got some grape jelly."

"Picked it up last week." Walter watched Mulder's lips tighten in irritation.

`Damn, Walter, quit sticking your foot in it.' Then he told himself, `Well, I really can't blame him.'

They worked well together, even doing something as simple as cooking. To anyone watching it would be obvious that they had done this many times before. What would not have been so obvious was that Fox was becoming irritated and Walter was becoming uncomfortable. 

They cooked and ate in silence. Walter watched as Fox spread grape jelly on his toast, a look of irritation crossing his face every time he looked at the jar. Knowing he couldn't put it off any longer, Walter decided to take the bull by the horns. This was not going to be an easy conversation.

"Would you have preferred that I not tell you I had the jelly?"

Fox looked up angrily. "I would have preferred not to go through the last couple of weeks."

"It wasn't a picnic for me, either."

"Well, you certainly don't seem to have thought it was permanent." Fox couldn't control his anger. The last two weeks had been hell for him, thinking it was over between them, but Skinner had taken the situation in stride. Shit, he'd even gone grocery shopping for the two of them, including Fox's likes in his purchases. Mulder's little voice tried to remind him of the shape he'd found Walter in last night but he wasn't in the mood to listen.

"The jelly was on the list from the week before I just got what was on the list."

"You don't even like grape, so who the hell were you buying it for? You have someone else on the side?"

"Damn it, Mulder, you know that you're the only one in my life. There's been no one else for a long time. I was on autopilot. Lack of sleep and a hangover tend to do that." At Mulder's skeptical look, Walter finally admitted, "Alright, I guess deep down I couldn't accept the fact that it was over."

"You figured that I'd come crawling back. Well, I did, so I guess you were right." Mulder stood up, rinsing his plate and stuffing it into the dishwasher. He gathered up the rest of the dirty dishes from around the kitchen and loaded them as well. Every move was sharp and tense. He was angry and hurt and he felt exposed, raw. Walter was the one who had attacked him, yet Fox was the one who had to come crawling back.

Walter sighed. Well, he had the upper hand just the way he liked but it didn't feel very good. He stood up, picking up his plate and taking it over to the sink to rinse off. Fox turned and stretched out his hand; Walter handed him the plate and watched as Mulder finished loading the dish washer in silence. When the dishwasher was running, Walter ran a hand over Fox's back and pulled him into a quick embrace. He stepped back and led the way to his study.

"Fox, this isn't easy for me..."

"You think it's easy for me?"

"No, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about our relationship and how I feel about you." They sat down. Walter on the couch, grimacing at the whiskey bottle, and Fox in an armchair. "I like to be in control. You know that... always been that way, even since I was a kid..."

"Well, I don't see how you could get much more in control than you are now. You've got me on a leash and all you have to do is pull my chain." Mulder couldn't stay seated. He got up and began to pace. "All those things you said... what you implied..."

"I meant every one."

At that Fox stopped--first he felt hurt, then angry. "Do you really think I'm some kind of whore selling myself to you for the X-files? That I got involved with you for what I could get? That I'm too self-centered to feel anything about anyone else? Well, if you feel that way then I don't think we have anything more to say." 

end part 3

Part 4

Mulder started to head for the door but Skinner was up and stopping him before he could get there. They struggled a little before Walter shoved him down on the couch and sat on the coffee table in front of him. 

"Now listen carefully. I know that's how you took what I said but that's not what I meant. Damn, now you've got me sounding like Nixon. What I said was that you were too wrapped up in your own needs, too driven to pay attention to others around you. That you don't think about those around you or how they might be hurt."

"That's not true--I'm always thinking of those around me making sure they are as safe as possible that they don't get hurt."

"Then what about Modell?"

`Pusher?' he thought. `What does he have to do with anything? I didn't take Scully in there she chose to come in...? What was Walter getting at?' 

"That doesn't make sense--I did my best to stop what was happening. I don't know what you're getting at."

"Oh, you don't, do you? Then you explain to me why you got Scully to lie on her report and you lied on your report?"

"We didn't lie. Every word was true."

"I thought the truth meant more to you than that, Mulder. We both know that leaving out important incidents is the same as lying about the events."

Fox suddenly realized where this was going. `Damn it, why had Scully had to let that slip to Walter?' As his partner and friend, she could question and complain a bit, and Skinner as his boss also had some rights to question his actions, but Walter as his lover... `Fuck... A lover had one hell of a lot more rights... I wanted to avoid this.' 

"We recounted the events--"

"Cut the bullshit, Fox. You took that gun and put it to your head and barely paused before pulling the trigger."

"I couldn't help it. Modell--"

"You managed to help it enough to give Scully a chance to create a diversion. Do you think that we don't know how little you value your own life, how ready you are to risk it at the drop of a hat? Do you have any idea how out of control that makes us... me... feel? My god, man, it's like watching a car crash in slow motion, over and over and over... knowing that there is noting you can do to stop it... that someone might get killed... that you're about to watch your whole world shatter to pieces.

"Well, I got a first-hand experience with that a couple of weeks ago and I still haven't recovered. You don't care about us, don't think about us... You're so focused on your own goals and needs and protecting us that you don't ever stop to think what your death would mean. How do you think Agent Scully would have felt as she watched you blow your brains out... or me? I'd get the great fun of having to review the autopsy report... pictures and all. You think either of us would ever go a week without one of those views haunting our dreams, probably for years to come? Between that scene and the one of a burned corpse on a warehouse floor, I can tell you that I don't sleep very well at night.

"So when I called you selfish, that's what I meant. When I said you were selling yourself for your goals I wasn't talking about sleeping with me. You don't stop to think how your death would affect those who love you that you would leave behind. 

"As to why I didn't come after you the last couple of weeks--I was too damn afraid... afraid of what losing you would do to me. But I came to a realization sometime last night or this morning. It's too late for me to go back. Breaking off with you won't make the hurt any less if you get killed and I know that I'll only feel remorse for the time I wasted that we could have been together. But you scare the shit out of me, Fox. You're so intense and you take such risks... I mean, your courage and dedication is one of the things I love about you, but I can't bear it if it gets you killed..." Walter finished, sighing, and dropped his head into his hands. He felt totally drained, totally exposed.

Fox sat and stared at his boss's slumped shoulders. He was wishing now that he'd let well enough alone. Walter was asking for something that he wasn't sure he was ready or even capable of giving. For Fox it was easy to put other's lives above his own, to regard his worth so lightly, but Walter was asking for him to respect himself and his worth... he wasn't sure he knew how. "I don't know if I can give you what you want. I'm not sure it's within my power..." He reached over and laid a hand on his boss's shoulder, causing him to look up and meet his gaze.

"When Sam was taken... I guess my parents still loved me, where still glad that I was around but I felt so guilty and everything closed down... everyone and everything was totally focused on her... no one would talk about it... I felt worthless, unimportant. The only value I ever felt I had was as an agent to find Samantha, to recover her... Nothing else about me did I ever consider worthwhile or important. The way you feel... the way Scully feels... the value you place on my life... I don't know how to deal with it. I'm not used to thinking that my death would hurt others... would affect them..." His voice broke off as Walter raised a hand to gently stroke his cheek; he leaned into the touch, then turned and kissed the palm of Skinner's hand. 

Walter's eyes glistened, "Fox, next time you want to run heedlessly into a dangerous situation, remember that if you die you'll be taking at least two others with you."

Fox and Walter slowly leaned in and exchanged a kiss. Walter moved from the coffee table to the couch to sit beside his friend and lover. He sat back partially reclining on the couch and pulled Fox into his arms. They lay like that for a long while, neither saying anything, content with just holding and touching.

Finally, Fox shifted around so that he could kiss Walter again. This one was long and slow and tender. "I'm sorry, Walter, I haven't had anyone really care about me in a long time, so I'm afraid I find it hard to remember that someone might be more than a little upset if I died."

"Scully's been around for over three years, Fox. And she was caring for you and defending you within weeks of you being paired. And I've been..." Here Walter paused and Mulder knew that he changed whatever he was going to say, "I've been aware of her feelings since the Tooms case."

"I know, but since we never admitted how we felt about each other, it never felt real... I could always ignore it and pretend that I was imagining it. You make it a hell of a lot harder to do that."

"Good. And I hope to make it harder still. I know you can't stop your search and your work. In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I think your work is vitally important. And you're the only one capable of doing it, but just be a little more careful. And fight for yourself a little harder. Okay?"

Mulder nodded and leaned in to again kiss the man beneath him. This kiss was less tender and more full of passion. Walter pulled away and laughed at Fox.

"You're insatiable."

Fox rubbed his body against him before answering. "Well, from the feel of things I'd say you were, too."

Walter chuckled again and then ran his hands down Fox's back to his butt. Grasping it firmly, he pulled his lover in closer. "I'm not going to be able to walk by the end of this weekend. I should have known better than to take a younger lover."

"Not that much younger, and you're in better shape."

"Yeah right. Your shape feels just fine to me. Come here." Walter grabbed Fox's head between his hands and kissed him hard and passionately, running his hands up under Fox's t-shirt and removing it swiftly. The rest of Mulder's clothes soon followed. Walter tried to roll over but the couch didn't have enough room, so they fell to the floor, pushing the coffee table out of the way with feet and hands. He then began a slow gentle exploration of Mulder's prone form, soft little moans coming from both of them. This time it was Walter's turn to take Fox into his mouth and bring him to release. The squeak Fox made when he came had Walter laughing. 

"I take it that means you liked it."

Fox only nodded, still too out of breath to speak. He had gone months at a time without sex and now had it three times in one day. `Jeez, I'm going to be dead tomorrow,' he thought, smiling to himself, `but what a way to go!'

"Your turn." He smiled evilly at Walter.

"Don't know, Fox? Four times in twenty-four hours is going for the record."

"Always did like to be the best at whatever I chose to do. Just loved breaking records." Mulder rolled his partner over and began to kiss him, slowly working his way down his body. He amazed himself by how much he enjoyed the body beneath him. He kissed Walter's stomach and ran his tongue around and into the AD's belly button, then moved lower to explore his thighs and legs. Taking lots of time, he built Walter up to a fever pitch of anticipation before finally taking him into his mouth and quickly bringing him to release. 

Walter groaned, "Well, you are certainly the best at whatever you choose to undertake."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

They lay quietly for awhile, slowly regaining their strength. Finally Walter spoke. "I've got tickets to the game with the Bulls tonight. Want to go?"

Fox grinned at him. "A date. Are you asking me on a date?"

"We've been sleeping together off and on for several months--don't you think it's about time?"

Mulder was feeling a bit nonplussed. Except for the occasional meal together, they had not gone out as friends in public. "I guess I'd better go home and change..." Fox sat up suddenly. "Shit, my laundry!"

At Walter's puzzled look, he went on to explain, "I was doing my wash last night. Pretty pathetic, huh? It had just finished the wash cycle when I finally decided that we needed to talk. Afraid that I'd change my mind, I stuffed it into the hamper and a garbage bag, wet. It's out in my car now."

Walter laughed. "Only you, Mulder. Come on, let's go rescue it before it smells like mildew and you have to buy new stuff."

They went out and collected the laundry. "Looks like I lucked out. It's stayed cold enough that it hasn't started to mildew and now I won't have to go home to change." As he loaded the dryer, Mulder came to Walter's dress shirt and handed it to him. "I would have had it dry cleaned but it's got your laundry mark on it and I thought that might be hard to explain to the cleaners since we both use that place near work."

Shaking his head, Walter was glad that Fox thought of these things because they needed to be careful. He debated how to ask what he wanted and finally decided that the direct approach was best. "Do you want to go by your place and pick up the rest of your stuff after the game?"

Their eyes met and Mulder swallowed hard. `Well, do I?' The answer didn't take much thought. "Yeah, that would be nice. Until then can I borrow your razor?"

"Sure thing, just try to remember to reset the damn thing--your beard's coarser than mine and I got razor burn last time you borrowed it."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, let's go get ready."

They took turns showering and shaving. Fox, always a bit more particular, finished last and exited the bathroom to find Walter putting his now-dry laundry into the dresser.

"Bit presumptuous, aren't you?"

"Cut the crap, Mulder. You want this as much as I do."

Fox shrugged, conceding Walter's point. He was happy to be moving back in. It felt right and he wasn't going to start arguing about something he wanted to do. "Leave me a few things to take home to get me through the week." Seeing Walter stiffen, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine, Mulder."

"You've been taking lessons from Scully again. Well, I don't believe it when she uses it and I sure as hell don't believe it now."

"Sometimes it's best to let things drop."

"Damn it. I'm sick of secrets."

"All right, fine. I wish that you could move in. Not just weekends but during the week as well. I hate eating alone at that diner and I especially hate coming home to this damn big empty house. Don't know why I let Sharon..."

Mulder was startled. Walter almost never spoke of the forbidden subject and he had never before opened up so much to tell Fox how he needed and enjoyed his companionship. He walked over to his lover and gave him a hug. "I wish we could be together, as well, but we'll have to be satisfied with what time we can steal. Not being together all the time makes what time we do have a lot more memorable. Sides neither of us would be able to walk if we kept up this pace." Kissing, they left for the game.

After the game, they stopped by Mulder's to pick up some of his things. Entering the building, they ran into the woman from the night before. 

Deciding to give up on subtlety, she went for the more direct approach. "Hello, Fox. Nice to see you again."

"Hello, Paula." He hated when they called him Fox. "How's it going?" Mulder wasn't paying very close attention, but Walter had caught her eyeing Fox and knew what she was up to or, more to the point, who she was after.

"So how 'bout you and your friend stopping by my place for a drink? I could call up a girlfriend or two and we could make a night of it."

Fox had finally caught on... "Thanks for the invite but it's been a long day and I've got some research to finish before Monday."

"Going to work on Saturday night? Come on, Fox..." Her voice was sensuous and she `accidentally' rubbed gently up against him. "All work and no play... You're almost never home on weekends..." She pouted.

Fox started backing away and ran right into Walter, who caught him to keep him from falling over. "My job's pretty demanding and I really need to get some work done, but thanks all the same." He turned and practically ran for his apartment. Walter followed close behind.

Once inside, he asked Fox, "So are you accosted by women often, Mulder?"

Mulder's head shot up from where he'd been studying the books on the floor, deciding which ones he would need for research tomorrow. His eyes widened and there was a startled look on his face.

Seeing the look, Walter said, "Never mind."

Mulder smiled at him and came in very close. "Jealous, Walter?" No one had ever been jealous over him before. 

Skinner glared back at Mulder, who promptly laughed. "Don't worry about it. If I'd been interested in her, I could have asked her out last night. Hell, she's been trying to get me to go out with her since she moved in a couple of months ago. I can't very well tell her I'm involved, so I make work excuses. But when she approached me last night I wasn't interested; instead I sat pouting about you. Think I pissed her off... guess she decided to head for the more direct approach."

Relaxing at Fox's words, the AD finally smiled. "Sorry."

"About what? Being jealous?" At Walter's nod, he continued. "I know the feeling."

Looking up to see Walter's questioning look, he elaborated. "Yesterday afternoon in the lobby when that guy hugged you."

"Phillip?"

"I have no idea who it was but I saw him with his arm around your shoulder and I saw red."

"So that's why you looked so cold. He was in the Marines with me. Philip and his wife are old friends."

"Yeah, I figured it was something like that when the woman hugged you as well. But for a couple of seconds it really blindsided me. This relationship isn't going to be easy, is it?"

"No, but it's worth it. Come on, let's head back home, before that she-wolf comes after you again. I plan on keeping you exhausted enough so that you won't have the energy for other pursuits."

Monday Morning  
Hoover Building

Dana Scully was not looking forward to returning to work this Monday. She'd spent a pleasant weekend visiting with her brother and sister-in-law, who were from out of town. It had been a nice change of pace from the weirdness of her daily life. Of course, she missed the weirdness if she went too long without it, but just now a little normality was welcomed.

That wasn't really the problem, though. The problem was with her partner: he was obviously having relationship problems and had been depressed for the last couple of weeks. He wasn't testy like most men were, he didn't snap her head off, or lose his temper more. Instead he just sort of moped or threw himself into his work until he dropped. She wondered what today would be like. Probably a mope day since he didn't seem to rest at all on the weekends when he and the person he was involved with were apart.

Testy, on the other hand, was the perfect description of the other half of the relationship. Skinner was a bear. No one but Scully had any idea what was going on, but word was out that the AD was on the warpath, and to keep out of his way. Dana wouldn't have had any idea that Mulder's depression and their boss's rampage were connected if she hadn't stumbled onto a kiss one night when they had both been in the hospital recovering from various injuries. Neither man had seen her, but she had seen them and since that time had watched covertly as their relationship had developed. 

Things had gone very well up until about two weeks ago, when an agent had been killed working on an X-file case. Then they'd had some kind of fight and since then work had not been pleasant. She felt like kicking both of them in the butt for wasting what they had. She was quickly realizing that she would like to be in either of their shoes. Caring for both men deeply, it was hard to be on the outside looking in and even harder to keep quiet when she saw them both acting so stupid. `Keep your mouth shut, Dana. Keep your mouth shut, Dana...' She kept repeating the mantra to herself over and over.

So engrossed in her train of thought that she wasn't watching where she was going, she bumped into the Assistant Director. "Good morning, Scully. Did you have a nice weekend?"

Startled by his warm greeting, it took her a moment to collect her thoughts before replying. "Very good, Sir. My brother and his wife were visiting from out of town."

"Hope you had a good visit?"

"Yes. Spent the weekend at my mom's." `Hmmm, this was interesting. Let's see if we can get a rise out of Skinner.' 

"So how was your weekend, sir? Hope you took some time to relax." At the grin he shot her, she thought, `They made up.'

"Very relaxing. Can't remember being this relaxed in a long time." 

That was definitely a look of smug satisfaction on the AD's face. `Oh yeah, they made up all right.'

Unaware of his agent's thoughts, Skinner excused himself. "Well, I'll see you and Mulder at our two o'clock." He headed off down the hall.

`I'd bet a month's pay that they made up. Great... just great...' She was glad that they had made up, she really was, but she was beginning to feel like Mr. Bruckman: `It seems like everybody is having sex but me.' As she took the elevator down to their office, she thought to herself, `If Mulder greets me with that Cheshire cat grin, I'm going to throw something at him.'

Sure enough, she walked in the door and Mulder was busily studying some case files, looking very relaxed. "Morning, Scully. How's your brother?"

"Fine, Mulder. I guess your weekend agreed with you. You certainly seem in a better mood." She noticed Mulder taking a sip of coffee and felt like a little devilment. "You and Skinner."

Mulder choked and coughed. "Me and Skinner what?" he squeaked.

"Oh, I bumped into Skinner on the way down and he was in a very good mood. After last week that was a relief."

"Last week?" Mulder finally managed to question.

"Oh he was in an incredibly bad mood last week and the week before, come to think of it. I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"You know Skinner. He's always in a bad mood when I'm around."

"Oh, really? Funny, I hadn't noticed that. In fact, you always seem to be able to get him to let you do exactly what you want."

Mulder started coughing again and Dana decided that he'd choke to death if she kept this up, so she let the subject drop. `Well, the two o'clock should prove interesting. Very interesting indeed.' 

"Okay, Mulder, tell me about our new case." 

The X-files was back to normal. `Yeah, right.'

End Chances Are.

Another sequel is in the planning stage but it will probably be a while. Write to Alex at The more encouragement we get, the faster we write. Alex and I also want to add that if you wrote and didn't get a reply, we apologize, but my mail was acting up and losing messages; then they'd reappear and neither of us could tell whether or not they had all been answered. So if anybody got two replies, that's why and if you didn't hear that is also why. Sorry but the black box has a mind of its own.

 

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Synopsis: A new case puts a strain on Mulder's and Skinner's relationship and they must confront things about themselves and each other that they find painful. [E wrote that. Doesn't tell you diddly does it? Mulder has to deal with the fact that he's involved with another MAN and Walter has to fess up to Fox that he's been in love/lust with him for a lot longer than a few months. Better? Aj]  
RATING - NC-17 SLASH M/M  
THIRD SEASON SPOILERS  
Hello. I'm posting this for a friend who is off line so if you want to write, you'll have to do so through me. I'll pass the messages along.   
Okay--major league warning. This is NC-17 X.... no ifs ands or butts about it. And it is about a romance between two MALE X-file characters. So if that sort of thing grosses you out stop now or hold your peace. Feedback is appreciated. And encouragement makes us write more and faster. The X in the rating is because it's more descriptive than the first one. We feel that the subject matter alone makes it NC-17 and wanted to give further indicators that this is erotic in parts.  
Thanks to JL, CM, LS, Lisby, and my co-conspirator E for writing, reading, commenting, and encouragement. Lisby was our most wonderful editor this time but since she did some great writting as well we're giving her author credit, too. Thankyou and take a bow, L. Oh and a thankyou to SMJ and CM [different CM from the one above] for the truly tasteless gay jokes... We needed some for the bar scene and put out a cry to our joke masters and they came up with these. We didn't know any. BG. We do now.  
Usual disclaimer. These characters are not mine. They belong to Chris Carter and 1013 Productions and he would probably have a cow if he knew what we did with them. Definitely a large bull calf. No money is being made off of their use. This story may be circulated but please leave the author's name and address attached.  
This story is the sequel to Taking Chances and Chances Are. And if you're nice and encourage us, we have two or three others in the planning stage. It just takes time to write. Sorry that this is later than promised. It was done in rough form over a month ago but because of first one then the other of us being sick it sat on the hard drive for three weeks waiting for a final tweek. We're in a debate about the direction we want the next one to take so that it could be out within a few weeks or take a couple of months depending on where we decide to go with it. Sheesh I hate long introductions -- Don't you? Sorry.

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Changes III: Turnabout Chances  
By Alex Jones, E, and Lisby

8:30 PM, Chances Public House, Georgetown, Washington, DC

The waitress sighed to herself as she saw the men come in. Suits. The small brunette looked at her watch. Eight-thirty. They were coming in late. Must have closed a big deal. As one of the men moved to hang up his coat she caught sight of a service weapon. Make that a big case. FBI or Treasury? Guess she wasn't going to get out by nine after all. Well, at least they normally tipped good.

As the six men slid into a corner booth in the back of the bar, she ambled toward them. "Greetings, gents. May I take your orders? Kitchen closes in half an hour." She pulled out her pad from her apron pocket and stood poised with her pen.

"BLT, light mayonnaise. I'll take a draft."

"Hamburger and fries. Do you have Coors?" At her nod he concluded, "Okay I'll take a Coors."

"Colorado kool-aid. Sheesh," the next man guffawed, "That's like drinking flavored water....Gimme a Cheeseburger and chips, cheddar. And that dark German beer you carry. You know the one I mean?" She nodded and looked to the next man.

Whoa. He was delicious. Tall, dark, and yummy. And distracted. She was about to ask him what he wanted when the agent next to him elbowed the man in the ribs. "Hey, Spooky, wake up and tell the lady what you want."

The agent collected himself but didn't really seem all that interested in food. "I'll take a cheeseburger, too. Well-done."

"Do you want fries with that? And how 'bout something to drink?" she prompted when nothing else was forthcoming, casting him a big, toothy smile. The man blushed a little and lowered his gaze. Eyes drifting down the table, the waitress noticed a rather formidable bald man in round glasses, glaring. She quirked him a 'What's your problem?' eyebrow and prompted Sugar Boy again.

Before the hazel-eyed man could reply, another spoke up, "Well-done, Mulder? You lose all the flavor that way. Might as well eat shoe leather."

"I've been to a meat packing plant, thank you," Mulder retorted. "I'll stick to well done." Turning to the waitress he asked, "You got any English beers?" His nod echoed her own, "Okay. I'll take one of those, please."

She flashed Mulder another grin. This time, he smiled back and she raised her eyebrows flirtatiously. The up-tight gentleman at the end of the table cleared his throat and GQ posteragent gestured toward him with a tip of his head, saying, "I think the natives are restless."

 Captain Picard looked pretty pissed, so she took the last two orders and walked away. Maybe cutie-pie would return alone some other night. One could always hope....

Fox Mulder watched the waitress retreat. 'She has a nice ass,' he thought to himself, then caught his boss's glower. OOPS. The Green-eyed Monster emerges. He ought to know better by now. Mulder could never quite figure Skinner out--his boss knew he was in love with Dana Scully and that didn't seem to bother Skinner in the least, but when any other woman came on to Fox Mulder, Walter would get that remote, hard look. It had taken Fox a few times to figure it out--Walter was so controlled, after all--but it was becoming all too apparent. It was jealousy.

It didn't make sense. Mulder had been the one to come on to Walter first: when they'd both been injured, he had been the one to go to Skinner's hospital room, and when they fought he was always the one giving in. He often felt his boss had him on a short leash and liked to control him and their encounters. Yet, given all that, Walter seemed to be the most insecure about their relationship. Fox shrugged to himself, thinking, Beats the hell out of me.

Mulder sighed aloud and wondered for the hundredth time why he was out with the boys. Because, he answered himself, Walter wanted you to come along and you've forgotten how to say no to him. He has you wrapped around his little finger. Fox didn't find the situation comfortable; the thought of stopping the relationship was even more uncomfortable. In seven short months, Walter Skinner had come to mean so much to him.

"How do you separate the men from the boys in Greece?"

Mulder tensed up. Perkins was telling gay jokes again, making the obligatory pause before delivering the punch line. "With a crowbar!" The men around Mulder laughed.

Now, Agent Baker piped up with a joke of his own, "How do you know when a gay burglar has broken into your home?" Everyone shook their heads and Baker concluded, "Your Garland and Streisand CDs are gone and your living room has been tastefully redecorated." That one had them all chuckling--even Mulder--but Perkins couldn't give Baker the last laugh.

"What's the hardest part about telling your parents you have Aids?" Mulder's faint smile vanished. He glared at Perkins as the SAC finished the joke, "Convincing them you're a hemophiliac." Noticing Mulder's narrowed eyes, Perkins pressed, "What's wrong, Spooky? Don't you have a sense of humor?"

"Sorry, Perkins, I keep seeing all those mutilated bodies and can't seem to laugh." He took a swig of the beer that the waitress had just set down. The men around him went back to talking, ignoring him. Just Spooky living up to his antisocial reputation.

The Violent Crime team was out that night ostensibly to celebrate the closure of a serial murder case. Fifteen gay men between the ages of twenty and forty had been killed over the last year-and-a-half. VC hadn't gotten far--in fact their effort had been less than spectacular--until Baker had brought the case to AD Skinner and Skinner called on Mulder, who had once been the crack profiler for the FBI's Investigative Support Unit. It had taken three weeks, but with Mulder's help they had solved the case. A feather in all their caps. A job well done.

Except that Fox Mulder was unhappy with the way the investigation had been run prior to his and Skinner's involvement. The team had had enough evidence to use the VICAP and other law enforcement databases to piece together the identity of the killers within weeks of the local police's request for help. Yet the special agent in charge, Perkins, had not put forth much effort. Mulder knew after working

with the man for less than a week that it was because Perkins didn't like gays. And now the SAC would receive credit for solving the case, when he had, in reality, purposefully botched it.

And Skinner. Mulder couldn't figure him out. Why hadn't he come down on Perkins and his team for mishandling the case and why was he letting them tell all those damn offensive jokes? Didn't the man...? No maybe not. He's never on the receiving end, Mulder thought angrily. The food came and he ate quietly, stewing over what was going on around him.

After he finished his dinner, Mulder excused himself and headed for the men's room, utterly sick of the malicious, hateful crap he had heard. Baker soon appeared, entering as Mulder washed his hands. "I wanted to thank you, Mulder, for helping with this case."

"No problem," Mulder looked up at Baker's reflection in the mirror. "It wasn't anything special."

"Yes. Yes it was. Perkins would have let 'em go on killing before--or if ever--he made the case a priority."

"Guess he had a lot of other cases pressing."

"You know it wasn't that. The man hates gays. Hell, most of the task force were either indifferent or thought those bastards were doing everybody a favor. Only you and Skinner took this case seriously," Baker leaned against the tile wall, arms crossed on his chest.

The conversation was making Mulder nervous--afraid that gossip might have started. No matter how careful, they never knew....Baker continued, "I just want you to know that even though you two are straight I appreciate that you cared enough to stop those bastards."

Mulder quirked an eyebrow. What was Baker trying to tell him?

"Yeah, I'm gay," the smaller man admitted, looking down, running a hand through his dark blond hair, "That's why I requested the case half way through. Rumors were that Perkins wasn't doing, or planning to do, a damn thing."

"So why are you telling me?" Mulder reached for a coarse brown paper towel.

"I'm telling you because you care and I can tell you won't judge me

by sexual preferences, but by my work. I wish there were more like you. You're one of a very few agents in the Bureau that I would trust with this information. Wouldn't want to find my back-up disappearing at a bad time, would I?"

"I doubt Skinner would let your sexual preferences influence his decisions."

Baker laughed, looked up, "You mean Old Straight Arrow?"

"Straight Arrow?"

"Yeah. One of his long term partners was gay. Kept it from him the whole time."

"Really?" The used paper towel was wadded up and pitched into the waste basket. Two points. Mulder leaned back against the cool porcelain sink.

"Yeah, Phil Clifford. You might remember him. Killed in a plane crash about five years ago?"

"Vaguely. Thought he had a wife and kids?"

"Cover. Don't know the story behind it, but it was pure cover. Some women like that, you know." Mulder knew. He even knew why Clifford's wife had preferred a gay husband. Walter had told him most of the story not long into their relationship. Cliff's wife had been sexually abused as a child and, as a result, loathed sex but she had wanted kids and a father for them. Clifford had wanted kids and a cover. A perfect match.

"So Clifford kept the fact that he was gay from Skinner the whole time? Must have been hard to do. How come?"

"Said Skinner was too much of a tight ass--a straight arrow--that the whole idea of having a gay partner would freak him out way too much. Ex-marine and all that."

Mulder felt a stirring of anger but shoved it down, suddenly not liking the idea of Walter with a long-term lover. It made him feel like a flash-in-the-pan. But that relationship was over--over years ago--and the man was dead. Further, from what Walter had said, on his part the relationship had been one of convenience. From the sound of things, though, Clifford had gone out of his way to protect Walter

and his reputation. Fox wondered if maybe Phil Clifford cared more than Skinner realized or would admit. Well, it would figure, Mulder thought a little bitterly. Here he was crazy about Skinner, too, and maybe the AD would end up describing him as just another convenient sex partner. The idea hurt more than Fox Mulder wanted to admit.

He noticed Baker watching him curiously and felt compelled to say something. "Sk-Skinner's a bit by-the-book," he stuttered, "But I think he's fair-minded."

"Sure he's fair-minded," Baker agreed. "He cared enough to put you on the case--but not enough to slap Perkins down about mishandling it. At least not so far. So if another one like this comes along...well...." the smaller man shrugged.

Mulder had been thinking exactly the same thing. Was Walter afraid of appearing partial to homosexuals? "Do you think there's much he could do to Perkins?"

"Not sure....I guess it would be hard to put Perkins up before OPR for neglect; there isn't any incontrovertible evidence that he deliberately botched the investigation. Still there are men dead because of his anti-gay bias."

"Well, I think Skinner will make him pay somehow. The AD values innocent lives very highly."

"Yeah. That's one of the good things about him."

"One?"

"He's also got a great ass." Baker laughed at the shocked expression on Mulder's face and leaned in a little closer, "Don't be jealous, Mulder. You do too." The agent turned and walked out then, leaving Fox Mulder's mouth agape.

"He just made a pass at me, I think," he muttered. "Jesus, what do I have a sign over my head?"

Baker was waiting outside the rest room door when Mulder exited. The taller man jumped, startled, as he bumped against Baker. "Don't worry, Mulder," the agent grinned. "I was just joking. I know you're straight." At the relief on Spooky's face Baker laughed even harder.

"But if you ever want to open yourself to extreme possibilities...well, give me a ring."

Walter Skinner watched his agents' return closely. The expressions on their faces were telling: Fox looked flushed and disconcerted and Baker seemed amused. Skinner tensed and his jaw line tightened with the strength of his possessive emotion.

Throughout the rest of the evening, the AD was short tempered and Mulder brooding. By ten they had decided to call it a night. It was only Thursday. Another work day ahead.

Mulder departed with the group without talking to Walter. He didn't feel up to it. What Baker had said upset him. Was Skinner just using him for sex? No, it didn't make sense. Walter cared...he just liked to be in control. That's why Skinner wouldn't come to him when they had problems. That was it, wasn't it?....Wasn't it?

  
11:15 PM, Prosperity Avenue, Fairfax, Virginia

The house was echoing and empty. Walls and windows lacking life. Walter had almost headed back to his office, but couldn't really think of a valid reason to burn the midnight oil. Wondering what was bothering Fox, Walter headed up the creaky, well-worn stairs of the old house to his bedroom to try and get some sleep. Skinner stripped off his clothing, tossed back the blankets, sat down on the edge of the vacant bed. He had planned to draw Mulder aside at the public house, to ask him to break their rule of weekends only, just this once. It had been a tough month, with their two days per week together cut short by overtime on the case, and dealing with Perkins and his malicious neglect--not to mention his mouth.

AD Skinner had reviewed Perkins' reports in detail, looking for some way to bring the SAC up on charges, but the man had been too careful. Yes, there had been clues that he had failed to pick up on--ones that Fox had spotted within hours of reading the first report--but they could easily have been missed by an ordinary agent. The trouble was that Skinner knew why Perkins had not given the case the attention it warranted. He couldn't prove that the man was homophobic, but that was the reason. All those damn jokes, stupid and disgusting....And what the hell was up with Fox? Walter grabbed the white dress shirt he had shed and threw it toward the laundry basket.

Fox had been withdrawing over the last couple of weeks and Walter couldn't figure out why. It didn't make sense. They hadn't fought. The sex was still great. He sighed. Maybe it was the damned case--profiling serial killers was excruciatingly hard on Mulder--sometimes dangerously hard. Skinner had thought long before asking him to join the case--but there was no one better, the deaths were becoming more frequent, and the SAC didn't give a damn because the victims were just a bunch of fags. But now the case was over--had been for three days--and Fox wasn't snapping out of it. He'd hardly spoken all week and had reluctantly accompanied the team to celebrate their success. And he'd made sure to stay far away from Walter and to dart out the minute the opportunity arose.

Well, tomorrow was Friday, and if Fox didn't come to him after work, he would go to Fox. He'd learned his lesson with their last fight. Never let things simmer.

  
Friday, 8 PM, Alexandria, Virginia

No light broke the gloom surrounding the man sitting on the couch. He'd been paralyzed there for over an hour, trying to make some move. Arguing in circles with himself while his ass went numb and his muscles stiffened and he just didn't move.

I should go and talk with Walter, he told himself. Tell him how I feel. Ask him if he really cares or if this is just a convenient way to get sex on a regular basis....Yeah right. Like he'd tell me the truth. God I hate feeling like a fag.

Mulder disliked the term but he couldn't deny that was what he was--at least a part of what he was. His whole self image--never strong to begin with--had taken a beating over the last few weeks. He knew he was identifying with the victims too much.

There had been one--tall and lanky and with short brown hair. The crime scene photo of that victim had reminded Fox so much of himself that it made his gut twist, made his hand shake as he held the color glossy. He'd always heard that it was hard--so damned hard--to come out of the closet, to admit to desires that the majority of the population still viewed as "wrong." He was used to being wrong, used to being scoffed at, but this was different. This truly terrified him.

He startled when his telephone rang. Fished it out of his coat pocket, pulled up the antenna, and flipped the mouthpiece open. "Mulder."

Skinner's murky tenor. "Agent Mulder, I thought we were going to finish up some work on a couple of those cases?"

Mulder looked at his watch. Eight-thirty. "I don't feel up to it tonight, Sir. Maybe later."

"Would you prefer if I came to your place and picked them up?"

"No. Tomorrow should be soon enough."

"I'll be over in half an hour," Skinner sounded determined.

"Don't trouble yourself, Sir--" The AD started to interrupt but Mulder finished first, conceding, giving in, "I'll bring them over to your place in forty-five minutes."

Skinner sighed audibly, "Very well, see you then, Agent Mulder."

  
Skinner heard the key in the lock as Mulder let himself into the house. Walter met him at the kitchen door, "Come on in, Fox. I'm just putting dinner on the table." Mulder's eyes were narrow and his body tense. He chewed on his lower lip as he strode past Skinner down the smooth hall floorboards into the kitchen.

They sat down at the small, pale pine table and began to eat in an uncomfortable silence punctuated only by the clink of silver plate against china and glass against wood. Skinner was surprised when Mulder broke the quiet first. "So how'd you know I hadn't already eaten?"

Walter's expression was both stern and wistful, "I know you well enough to know that when you're upset about something you don't eat." A pause, then, "And don't patronize me by asking what makes me think you're upset."

Mulder, who had started to interrupt, snapped his mouth shut and said nothing more for the rest of the meal. When they were both finished, the younger man rose to straighten up the kitchen. They had an unwritten rule that whomever cooked didn't have to clean. Most of the time they shared the duties but every now and then, when one or both was very tired, they would split up the chores so that one

could rest while the other worked.

As Fox silently loaded the dishwasher, Walter sat back in his chair with his fingers knotted behind his neck and decided that if Mulder wasn't going to voluntarily talk about what was bothering him the AD would have to force the issue. With a deep breath, he rose and crossed the room to where Fox stood at the sink, water running full blast into a mountain of soap bubbles, put his arms around Mulder's thin waist, kissed his neck, feeling the tickle of the short hairs at the edge of the agent's hairline.

Fox stiffened thoroughly. Trembled. "I don't want you to touch me. I'm not in the mood."

"Well, why the hell not?" Skinner said softly and nipped at the soft skin beneath his lips. "It's been a week, Fox. Normally, you have trouble going without for two days."

"Please, let go of me," Mulder's voice held an edge that made Skinner tense. He'd heard that edge before--seen the break of temper that it forewarned. Skinner let the younger man go--backed off two steps while Mulder sagged forward, shoulders curving downward, head hanging.

This tact was useless, the AD shook his head. Maybe making love would relax him, make him talk. "Come on, Mulder. It's after eleven and it's been a hard week, let's turn in."

Mulder raised his head, reached out a long-fingered hand to shut off the tap, nodded his agreement. Skinner switched off the lights of the house as they headed into the hall and up the staircase.

  
Once in the bedroom, Skinner purposefully stayed in Fox's way--bumping into him, touching him, leaning around him until Mulder's lips were a thin, twitching line and his cheeks were livid with rage. The older man angled himself to bump into Mulder by the bed, as the younger man slipped off his trousers. This time Walter grabbed Fox's shoulders and held on.

Mulder shoved against his chest, "Damn it, Walter, let me go. I told you I'm not in the mood."

"Not until you tell me what is going on."

"Nothing's going on." Fox shoved harder. "Leave me the fuck alone."

"You and I are going to resolve this."

"Damn it!" he snarled, "Why did I ever get involved with you? You're too controlling--got to have your own way. I don't want to tonight. Okay? Can't you get that through your thick skull?" He broke loose from his boss and stalked away.

Walter lifted Fox's handcuffs from the dresser and quietly approached him. Mulder realized what was about to happen a second too late and found himself spun around and shoved face down on the bed, his hands locked behind his back by cool, hard metal.

The down comforter all but swallowed his angry shout, "Damn it, Skinner, let me up!"

"I don't think so. You've been a bloody SOB for the last week. I don't know what the fuck is bothering you because you won't talk about it, but you want me and I want you, so one way or another...."

Mulder twisted his head to try to look up at the man who stood above him, "I don't want you!"

Skinner rolled Mulder over onto his back and ran a finger gently along the agent's erect cock through the thin barrier of cotton boxers. Mulder's face reddened with shame. "You need to tell the rest of your body that, if you expect me to believe you," Skinner raised an eyebrow.

Fox squirmed on the bed, trying to get away as Walter leaned in and took one of Mulder's nipples in his mouth--first sucking and then gently biting it. "No! No! Don't do this to me," Mulder thrashed his head, then grew progressively more still. Finally, he heard a soft moan emit from the younger man's mouth.

The AD released the nipple from his mouth, looked up and smiled, "It's been a long time, Mulder. I want you to blow me."

Fox glared at him but said nothing. The dark eyes tracked Skinner as he stood up and removed his unbuttoned shirt, peeled off his dress socks, slipped out of his briefs, and pitched the clothing into the wicker laundry basket just inside the open closet door. Mulder's erection, the AD noticed with satisfaction, did not fade in the interim.

Skinner returned to the bed and grasped the younger man's biceps with strong hands, pulled Mulder up, and forced him into a kneeling position, then sat himself on the edge of the bed. This was the moment of truth for Fox. He knew that all it would take would be one word to stop Walter, but he found he didn't really want to stop. He wanted...needed to drive the other man wild with passion. He gave in to the inevitable. 

Entwining his fingers in the agent's fluffy brown hair, Skinner guided Fox's mouth to his own erection. Mulder strained against him, then conceded, taking the older man's cock into his mouth, beginning to lick and suck, tipped from lack of balance and bumped against Skinner's stomach.

The AD's hand shifted to clasp the back of Mulder's head to guide and support him. His other hand moved to fondle his own balls. Mulder's mouth was hot and wet and soft, with hard rows of teeth avoiding Skinner's flesh. The AD tipped his head back and panted as the pressure built, built, built inside him, convulsing his testicles, and finally exploded once into Mulder's mouth. Again, the kneeling agent lost his balance and Walter's penis slipped out of his mouth and shot the second and third time onto Mulder's face, neck and chest. He saw Fox shiver as the warm liquid ran down his body and he leaned his head against Walter's thigh, his face tight with shame.

God damn it, damn, Fox is stubborn, Skinner thought, then said aloud, "We have some unfinished business, Mulder." The younger man's pupils--black with annoyance--shifted to Skinner's face. In disgust, Walter stood up and walked away from the kneeling man.

He came back a few moments later with a damp wash cloth and wiped Mulder's skin clean, lifted him by the upper arms, and directed him to sit on the bed. Fox didn't fight, but slumped forward, looking at the dark green carpet until the AD shoved him back on the bed unlocked the cuff from one wrist and snapped it to the rail of the headboard, then got his own handcuffs out of the bedside table and cuffed Fox's other hand to the headboard as well.

Skinner stared at the long, beautiful body below him, fumbled in the bedstand drawer for the bottle of unscented massage oil, then squeezed some lotion onto his rough hands and rubbed it between his palms. Mulder's dark eyes followed every move the older man made, wetting his lips with his tongue, his own desire evident on his face.

Skinner shifted on the bed and straddled Fox's abdomen, began a deep, but gentle massage of the back of Mulder's neck and chest. He slowly slid down his agent's body until their groins met. Bending over he took first one and then the other of Fox's nipples into his mouth as his hands rubbed and kneaded Mulder's hips and sides.

Then Skinner sat up and began to slowly rub their groins together. Another moan broke from the helpless man beneath him, "Oh god. Oh pleaaasse," Mulder gasped and writhed. "Do it, Walter," Fox demanded straining at his bonds. "I want you now."

"Not yet, Fox. Not yet," Walter stopped and slid off, moving to the side to rub the wide, hard muscles of younger man's thighs. When the muscles had softened, when Mulder sighed his relaxation, then Skinner leaned in to kiss and nip the sensitive skin of inner thighs. Giving up all semblance of resistance, Fox began to moan in earnest, but once again, Skinner stopped teasing and moved down to the foot of the bed. Fox watched him with wide, dilated eyes as Skinner lifted one of his feet onto his lap and began to massage, making smooth circular motions with his thumb on the ball and arch. First one foot and then the other and soon Fox was begging again. "Please, Walter," he pulled his wrists against the handcuffs that restrained him. "Please."

Skinner stopped and stood up to look hungrily at helpless agent, absently reaching down a hand to stroke his own renewed erection. He wanted to plunge inside Fox that instant--to feel the silky interior of the younger man's body. He was painfully denying himself as much as Mulder. "No, Fox," the AD shook his head. "You are going to talk now--tell me what's wrong."

Walter saw the closed expression come over Fox's face and was impressed. The man was incredibly stubborn. "Fine, Mulder. You'll talk to me eventually."

The younger man swallowed hard. Then, when Skinner grabbed the keys to the handcuffs, he breathed a sigh of relief. But his expression changed again to anger as Walter released one handcuff from the bed, flipped Mulder over onto his stomach, and snapped the cuff onto the headboard. "No!" he shouted, again sharply turning his head to see Skinner above him. Walter saw the links had twisted on the other cuff, knew they must be biting into Mulder's wrist painfully, and hurried to release the cuff, untwist the links, and snap it back.

He watched Fox grind his face into the pillows as he began the slow methodical seduction anew. Tangling his fingers in Mulder's hair, Skinner slowly massaged the man's scalp, then his hands moved down to Mulder's neck and strong swimmer's shoulders. Walter took time here--the muscles were brick hard beneath his hands. Only slowly did they begin to relax. Mulder's breathing became calmer, deeper. "Oh no you don't," Walter told him, "You're not going to sleep on me now. You are going to talk first."

"Fuck you," he heard Mulder mutter.

Skinner smiled at Mulder's willfulness, slipped his fingers under the waistband of Mulder's boxers and pulled them down over the curve of his buttocks while the younger man gasped aloud. Skinner then tugged the boxers down to Fox's knees and off, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind on pale skin. Skinner smiled again and shifted position until he was straddling Mulder's hips, his cock driving into the cleft between Mulder's ass, then leaned down and began to kiss Fox's neck and shoulders, his hands revisiting the smooth skin of Mulder's back, hips, and thighs. Mulder groaned and panted, twisted his wrists against the metal cuffs, reddening the flesh over bones. After what seemed like an eternity to both men, Walter levered himself up, rolled Fox to the side, stuffed a pillow under his stomach and rolled him back. Then he lay down on top of Mulder, using his knees to spread the restrained man's thighs, his hands slipping around to fondle Fox's balls and erect cock.

When Mulder moaned again it was tinged with agony. Skinner could feel the tightness in his scrotum, knew Fox's release was just seconds away. Let him go. Drew up his hands to Mulder's sides.

"No! You bastard!" Mulder reared up shouting, "No! God, please, Walter. Oh shit, Please."

"Then talk to me," Skinner whispered in his ear, tracked its perimeter with his tongue.

Fox collapsed, his head pushing into the pillow, screaming his rage into the bedding, "Fuck you!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Skinner demanded, his patience fraying with his own need for release. The feel of the warm skin of Mulder's ass had so hardened his cock that it throbbed and ached.

"Why?" Mulder had turned his head to the side. His voice was thin and strained, "What difference does it make to you?"

"Damn it, Fox, I'm not letting you drift any further away from me. If I've done something wrong, then tell me what it was," Walter grabbed the back of Fox's head, his fingers tangling in his hair and pulled up none too gently until he could see his lover's face. Mulder bit down on his lip and glared from the corners of this eyes. Skinner frowned at the stubbornness, snapped at Mulder, "If you're tired of me and our relationship, fine. But don't I have the right to hear it from your mouth, not to find out about it because you won't look at me or talk to me anymore? Don't you owe me that much? So talk, god damn you."

Mulder closed his eyes, "Please let go. It's hurting me--"

"I'm sorry," Skinner whispered, frowning his guilt, guiding Mulder's head back down to the pillow with gentle hands, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry....Please talk to me, Fox."

Mulder sighed. Seemed to be considering. When he answered his voice was small, "All right, Walter. I'll talk.....But later."

"Finally," Skinner relaxed on top of him, kissed the nape of his neck. "I'd started to give up hope." Then he whispered softly in Fox's ear, "Do you want me to release you?"

"Yes." As Walter rose up to reach for the key to the handcuffs Mulder clarified, "No--not that kind of release. Please. Please finish."

Walter stopped in mid-motion, grinned as he realized what Fox wanted. Laying back down on top of his lover, he began to rub his cock deeper into Mulder's ass, closer to the orifice, but not entering it. He reached around and again began to stroke and tease the younger man's penis. This time when he felt Fox tighten he increased the stimulation and Fox yelled as he came, trying to arch his back against the weight of Skinner's body, eyes squeezed shut, face flush. Mulder was still twitching with aftershocks as Skinner cried out with his own orgasm, his semen further wetting the cleft of Mulder's ass, already slick with preejaculate fluid.

For a few minutes, both men lay in quiet exhaustion. At last collecting himself, Walter unlocked the cuffs let Mulder's arms sink down onto the mattress. Fox's wrists were marked and would obviously bruise. He brought each one up to his lips in turn and kissed them in apology. Then he bent his elbow and rested his head on his hand, waiting patiently for Fox to talk.

Mulder worked his mouth, breathed hard through his nose, finally spat, "If you're sated now, I might as well leave, I guess."

Walter's brown eyes snapped, "What the hell does that mean?"

Mulder rolled over and sat up, his back to Walter. He reached over and grabbed his sweats off of an old Shaker chair and pulled them on.

Skinner reached out and clamped a hand on Mulder's shoulder, "Reneging on your promise? Or did your balls ache so bad you'd say anything?"

Mulder didn't try to move away further, just sat massaging his wrists and staring at the wall. After a few minutes, Walter moved up behind him on the bed and wrapped his muscular arms around the younger man's lithe frame, pulling him back gently into an embrace. "Fox, don't shut me out. Did I do something...?" his voice trailed off.

A sigh escaped the younger man. "It's not all about you, Walter... I mean you've never misled me about how you felt."

Walter Skinner cringed, knowing he had indeed misled Fox--not about how he felt but how long he'd felt it. Fuck, he loved this man, he thought, holding tighter, inhaling from Fox's skin the lingering scent of aftershave like deep whisky, the stale smell of sweat, and faint, sweeter smells of shampoo and styling mousse.

Fox toyed with the hem of the sheet, "This is--It's about me...about us. This last case...." Now Fox pulled away slightly, turned and looked at his boss. "Did you see the crime scene photos?" At Skinner's nod he continued. "There was one...he looked so much like me."

A hard look crossed the AD's face--Oh, he'd seen the resemblance, all right. His stomach clenched--fists clenched--just thinking--imaging--what if it HAD been Fox?

"I see you know the one I mean," Mulder's eyes dropped down to the sheets. "I'm just not used to thinking of myself as gay...as a fag.... all those damned jokes--they--I...." Mulder's voice trailed off. They both squirmed. Fox began again with a sigh, "Perkins neglected the case because he hates gays and sympathized with the killers. The rest of the team's reaction--Fuck, Walter, even YOU didn't discipline him. All those men, first raped and then killed--and you didn't say anything."

Fox pulled away. Stood and began to pace the bedroom. "I realize," he sounded tired, "that you don't think of yourself THAT way. Hell you're always in control of the situation. Always the one doing the fucking, never letting anyone f-fuck you," Mulder stumbled over the word, but then the rest came pouring out rapid-fire--accusative and angry--the words' counterpoint his quick whip like moves, a snap of the head, a spark in the eyes. "Bet you don't think of yourself as gay, do you? Why else would you let Perkins get away with all the shit that you did? Hell, you're just a big macho man that likes sex so much he'll screw anything. Comes in handy to have me around to fuck, doesn't it? To be your little bitch."

Skinner's face went pale. His forehead furrowed. He swung his feet off the bed and walked six quick steps across the soft carpet to reach out to Mulder. Fox pushed him away withdrew to the other side of the room, turning his back to Skinner.

"How long have you felt like this?" Walter asked softly. He was hurt by Fox's words but deep down he knew that some of them were deserved. He'd forgotten, or maybe just chosen to ignore, how being that exposed would make a man like Fox feel. How out-of-control and afraid. "Listen, I'm not using you, Fox. This relationship is hardly convenient. And it's dangerous to both our careers."

"Yeah right," Mulder hugged himself, rocked his shoulders almost imperceptibly. "And you told me that your relationship with Clifford was mostly about sex."

"It was."

"Well, he sure went out of his way to protect you."

"What do you mean?" Skinner did not try to force Mulder to turn, but stepped around him, tipped up Fox's chin to look into hazel eyes. To his surprise, they were glistening with tears. Caught in weakness, the younger man jerked from Skinner's grasp, informing him tartly, "Baker's gay. Did you know that?"

"Yes. I was aware of it. Cliff told me who the homosexuals in the Bureau are. He liked to gossip about everything, but especially about what was going on in that particular underground community. I still don't see--?"

"Baker thinks you have a nice ass."

Skinner's cheeks reddened slightly, "I'll be sure thank him for that compliment."

"He also says you're a straight arrow who didn't know that his partner was gay. For a man who had a relationship supposedly based only on sex, it would appear that he went to a lot of trouble to protect you."

Walter's jaw clenched and he turned to study the Colonial-era hunting scene in it's dark cherry frame that hung above the bed. Looked back to Mulder and tried to explain. The words were hard and grated on release, "I respected and admired Cliff. At first the relationship was intense. The risks, the newness of it, the release of giving sway to that side of myself....I-I initially got involved on the rebound from Mary Elizabeth."

"The girl that went on to med school?"

Walter nodded yes. "I was so lonely and hurt and when he made a pass...well, he met a need that I had and it was convenient." Skinner shrugged. "I suppose I should have known better. God, I can't believe that I was that young and naive once. Cliff was older and a good mentor and I cared for him." He reached out to stroke Mulder's cheek, "But it wasn't the same kind of passion we have, Fox...I was lonely, he met a need. I really don't know what it, what I, meant to him but after a few months I realized that the connection wasn't as strong as I had thought. And that he was seeing other men. He said he loved me like no other; I know he went out of his way to protect me from Bureau gossip the entire time we were involved, and even after, but he couldn't stay faithful. Thank god I always used a condom with him."

"You never slipped up?" Mulder didn't flinch from the AD's touch, but leaned into it a little.

"No. Not once." Walter's voice was firm. "After I found out that Cliff was seeing other men I insisted that we use condoms even for blow jobs."

"But that had to be before the Aids scare. Why?"

"There are other diseases than Aids and Cliff had to be cleaned up at least twice while we were together. Fortunately, I never caught anything."

Mulder's eyes opened wider, then sought out the floor. "You've only been involved with me a few months," he said. "And we don't use them all the time...."

Skinner knew the questions left unspoken, tried to answer, to soothe Mulder's jagged fears. "Because I know that I can trust you. I'm not seeing anyone else and I can tell that you aren't."

"Of course not, "Mulder replied with a hint of anger. "I'd never do that to you."

"I said I know you aren't," Skinner reassured, "We've both been tested for Aids and come up clean. Being monogamous is the best assurance we have for staying that way. I know that you'd never put my life at risk, Fox," Walter's lips quirked before adding, "And I really hate the taste of latex."

Mulder smiled a little, too, and let his arms drop to his sides. Skinner shifted his weight, felt the fluff of the carpet beneath his toes, the cool air on his naked body. He reached out to Mulder and pulled him into his embrace. Mulder didn't resist. The younger man's body seemed looser. The soft cotton cloth of his sweats warmed the front of Skinner's thighs and chest. "Go on," Mulder murmured, his head resting against the older man's shoulder. "Please."

"All right. After I found out that Cliff had other lovers on a regular basis--well, things were never the same," Skinner sighed, "at least for me. Maybe they never were to begin with. As long as we were partners we had sex several times a month. After my promotion, it dwindled to a few times a year and by the end, it had been several years since we'd been anything more than friends."

Mulder looked up into Skinner's eyes, "I guess that's why you can't stand to be out of control, why you choose partners that you either have a weak connection with or who love you more than you love them."

Walter could see the hurt--the tensed, thin mouth, the furrow of the brow that turned Fox's eyebrows down, reshaped the sockets of his eyes to scalene triangles. "Fox," he questioned quietly, "how long do you think that I've had feelings for you?"

"I don't know," Mulder replied sadly. "I guess since the flood in River City."

"God, some times you are so clueless. So you just figure that suddenly I saw you in a different light and wanted your body?"

Fox pulled back and shrugged. Nodded yes.

"That's when you were first attracted to me. Isn't it? When you first realized that your feelings were different?" Skinner asked, holding Fox by the shoulders at arm's length.

"Yeah. For the most part. So what? We both realized at the same time that our feelings were more than platonic."

Walter shook his head from side to side, mouth slanted up at one corner, "I've been attracted to you for what--when did you join the Bureau--almost ten years ago?" He saw the startled look on Mulder's face and chuckled. "I remember the first time I laid eyes on you. You were doing laps in the pool. I was assistant head of the Denver field office and was at Quantico for some meetings--a friend and I had gone to the gym to work out. You want to know something funny? I can't remember who the friend was but I can remember how you looked like it was yesterday.

"My friend pointed you out and said, 'That's Spooky Mulder.' 'Spooky who?' I asked. The guy tells me you were the new hot shot in BSU. Kind of strange, but brilliant. Two-hundred IQ. Agents with ten years of experience getting passed over in favor of Mulder doing the hardest profiles. Solving cases that were considered unsolvable."

Mulder's cheeks crimsoned and he looked down at the floor, at their bare feet against the hunter green carpet. Skinner lifted Mulder's chin, "Don't be ashamed. Why are you ashamed? You are brilliant, Mulder, and gifted."

"No."

"Yes. And fucking gorgeous." Walter's hands slid down to grip Fox's ass and draw their groins closer together. "I was lifting weights as I watched you swim. You got out of the pool in that little black speedo and, hell," Skinner grinned. "I had to stop lifting weights and go take an ice cold shower. No MAN, and even very few women, have given me a hard on like that from just looking. You have a element of vulnerability and of strength. It's in the way you move--the expressions on your face. I found you fascinating. And I've kept an eye on you ever since."

The younger man let his eyes drop again, still flushed, "You--you acted like you didn't even know who I was when you took over the X-files."

"That surprises you? You think I'd have let you, or anyone else see how I felt? I could have kissed my career good-bye and I wasn't about to. Besides, I didn't figure you'd be interested. Cliff knew everything and if you'd ever been involved with a man in the Bureau he would have known about it, he served as a sort of father confessor, little escaped his notice. So I ignored the attraction and got on with my life. But when I saw the trouble you were having with that SOB Blevins I decided to intervene." Skinner paused, took Mulder's arm, "Come on, now, Fox--come on back to bed. Will you? Will you let me hold you while we talk?"

Mulder took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Nodded. "Good," Skinner smiled, slipping his arm up around the younger man's shoulders and leading him back to the rumpled bed. Together, they stretched out, adjusted pillows, Mulder covering Walter and himself with the star-patterned green and blue patchwork quilt. "Comfortable?" Skinner asked. "Ready to keep talking?"

"Yeah," Mulder managed a little smile. "Tell me a bedtime story."

"Okay," Walter chuckled his brown eyes drifting to the ceiling, "you know when I shut the X-files down I was acting under orders, don't you? I called you in late at night because I didn't want you to have to face all the other agents. I couldn't do anything else at the time, but I did my best to protect you from ridicule."

"I thought it was to humiliate me," Mulder sounded bitter.

Skinner's eyes came back to Mulder's face, "I didn't want you humiliated--not after all you'd just been through."

"I didn't realize you..." Fox's voice faded out.

"That I was attracted to you?" Walter picked up, "Or that later, as I got to know you, I came to love you? I've spent the last three years since my promotion to AD falling for you and trying to fight it."

"You never said...Well, other than that one time that you were doped up in the hospital, but I figured that that was stress and the drugs."

"It was stress, all right," Skinner agreed. "Stress that tore down all my barriers and defenses and for moment allowed me to be honest." Walter kissed his lover lingeringly before continuing. "Now do you understand? This is all new to you. For me, well, I've lived with these feelings for a very long time, they're a part of me.... All those stupid gay jokes and all that prejudice, maybe they don't make me squirm so much because I've had a lot longer to adjust to the idea of loving someone of the same sex."

Mulder's mouth twitched and his pupils glinted black, "Why didn't I notice? I mean, I'm supposed to be some crack genius, right? Mr. Big IQ. The Bureau mind reader. So how come I never saw a hint of these feelings you're telling me about?"

"Because I worked damned hard to keep you out of my head. When I started supervising you I gave you such a hard time because I was worried for you and Scully and because I was afraid you might suspect how I felt. I was afraid that if I relaxed my defenses you'd know that I wanted you. Or she'd know that I wanted you, which was just as bad. I also felt guilty as hell for getting you into the X-files to begin with."

Mulder shrugged, "But you didn't have anything to do with that. I found them all by myself and requested assignment to them. Yeah, Patterson didn't want to let me go but I had a...." Fox broke off and gaped at his boss. "The files and data, the ones I used on Patterson to get him to let me go--YOU arranged for me to discover them."

Skinner smirked, traced the shape of Fox's jaw with his hand, "I'd been watching you from a distance for a long time. I had to be careful not to let Cliff suspect."

"Why?"

"Oh, he could be a jealous SOB and he got nasty on a few occasions when I was dating different women or had taken a second look at some guy. I didn't want to make you a target of his jealousy. So, when I was transferred into the DC office, right before Freeh made me an AD, I kept on the look out for you whenever you were on site. Told myself that it was just casual interest. I bumped into you in the hall once and that was my first good look at you in a couple of years. To say you looked like hell would be an understatement."

"Yeah, well..." Mulder squinted at the painful memory.

"I'd heard rumors and I could see they were true. The ISU was tearing you apart."

"Nearly fucking killed me," Mulder corrected.

"I know about that, too," Skinner nodded, leaning over to place another gentle kiss across frowning lips. "I started asking around--some of your compatriots down at Quantico told me you'd come close to cracking up and were barely back on your feet before they were dumping shit on you; that you wanted out but they wouldn't let go because you were too damn good. That they'd keep promising you a vacation, or even insisting that you take one, and then a few days or a week into it they would call you back because another case had come in."

Mulder tried to roll away from Skinner and the memories, but Walter held him firmly. "Don't," Mulder winced.

"Don't you either, Fox. I know it was a terrible time--"

"You don't know. No one knows. No one knows what it's like inside my head. What it WAS like then. Those bastards, they just wanted to keep me to make themselves look good for as long as they could. They didn't give a damn that I was going to end up in the psych ward!"

"I know," Skinner soothed, stroking skin that was beginning to tremble, holding him tightly. "I know what sonsofbitches they were. I know THAT much, Fox."

Skinner waited and watched, kept smoothing Fox's skin until the pain of Mulder's memories was almost gone from his face and his curiosity had returned. "So how did you do it--how did you get me those files?" he asked.

"Well," Skinner replied, "Cliff told me that you kept putting in requests to form a new department to investigate cases that had been classified with the letter X. I figured it couldn't be any worse than what you were going through but I didn't have the authority to do anything about it yet. However, I had run into those files earlier on and I kept them as insurance to use at some future date. A little pressure for the higher ups. I figured you needed them more than I did so I arranged for them to be sent to the X-files, knowing that you'd read them."

"I had no idea," Fox shook his head. "All this time and not to tell me, and to let me treat you the way I did....When you talked to me about Tooms, I thought you were being phony. I didn't believe you cared for a minute. And I blamed you for that case in the Jersey sewer, thought you gave it to me as punishment. But you didn't, did you? You assigned me because you recognized it as an X-file and even if you did have to shut them down you still supported me and my work. You were there for me when Scully was gone, too. You risked everything to reopen the X-files. Why?"

"I was afraid that without either them or Scully that you might do something--you might hurt someone or yourself...I tried to give you something to hang on to. It was so little, when I wanted to do so much, but it seemed to get you through."

"I did want to hurt myself. Thought about it. I-I almost--almost--" Mulder couldn't finish and turned his face into Walter's chest. After a moment he took a full breath, and said, "But I didn't. When you told me about how you believed in me and my work...it meant a lot. It helped. Thank you, Walter," he raised his hand to touch the side of his lover's face. "I acted like a real--"

"Shithead?" Skinner grinned. "Yeah. You did."

"I'm sorry. If I had known--"

"But you didn't know--so don't blame yourself. See, when you made that crack about not ravishing me in the middle of the night, I thought you'd figured out how I felt. Scared the shit out of me. Then back in the room--when I saw that you were as turned on as I was--I knew that short of sleeping in the hotel lobby or locking myself in the bathroom, there was no way in hell I was going sleep in the same bed and not touch you. I'd wanted you for so long, I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven...but I was scared--I mean, 'terrified' doesn't come close."

"Me, too," Mulder admitted with a small chuckle.

"But when I realized that you hadn't figured me out--that I had wanted you for a long time--I decided to keep it a secret, trying to protect myself. I'm sorry, Fox, I didn't realize how that would hurt you."

Fox nodded and gently kissed his lover's lips. "Can I ask you something, Walter?" At Skinner's nod he continued, "Why do you get so jealous of Baker and that waitress and almost everyone else who shows any interest in me, yet not Scully?"

Skinner's took a deep breath as he tried to best phrase his answer, "Well, I know that you love her and that she loves you--although, frankly, neither of you seem to be able to deal with the issue."

Mulder's gaze batted away, voice kinked with embarrassment, "That obvious, huh?"

 "That obvious."

"So how can you handle it?" Mulder asked, seeking out Skinner's eyes again. "How do you handle this--this situation?"

"I've found that the way I love you--well--more than anything I want you to be happy and I know that she makes you happy. The others--anything you had with them would be empty and hollow and not based on love--and I can't stand to think of you involved with anyone in that way. You do deserve to be loved, you know. Do you really understand that?"

Mulder wrapped an arm around the older man's chest and pulled himself closer, tighter against Skinner's muscular form. "I want to believe it."

Walter brought up his hand to pet Mulder's hair, "It's the truth. And as for being jealous--well, before I got involved with you I never considered myself a jealous person. Hell, with Cliff as a sex partner for so long, I couldn't afford to be, but I'm finding new facets to myself that I never knew I had. When I realized that Cliff was involved with others, it didn't really bother me too much--just took it as illustrative of his level of commitment. But you--you stir so much up for me--in me--things I've never faced about myself before."

Skinner lifted himself up to bend over Mulder and kiss along his browline, paused to whisper, "I've always had this need to be in control. My feelings make me so vulnerable that I can barely tolerate it. But I love you so much and have for so long that I can't go back." Walter kissed Fox's lips, then squeezed him tight and pleaded, "Don't shut me out, Fox. I love you."

The younger man didn't say anything, just stared up with wide eyes, then slowly pulled Walter down on top of him, his lips seeking and finding Skinner's. Mulder's kisses were warm along Skinner's mouth and down this throat. "Thank you," he whispered. "I really believe you love me. That you don't just want sex."

"I do love you," Skinner ran his hands through Mulder's hair. "I do. And you are worth loving."

Mulder smirked, "You may have to grind that concept into me."

"With pleasure, Fox. And as often as it takes until you understand it."

End Part 2

  
Turnabout Chances  
By Alex Jones, E, and Lisby  
Part 3

3:45 AM

Mulder propped his head on his hand and watched Walter sleep in the silver light of a full moon falling through sheer curtains. The main bedroom of the old farm house was chilly despite the radiator's industrious popping. Mulder tugged the quilt up higher around himself and the bare shoulders of his lover.

Had Skinner really said all those things--confessed to loving Mulder for years? Years! It felt like a dream to have someone who he admired so much love him and act on those feelings. It had never happened before--even with Scully. He wondered if Walter would ever have acted if he hadn't made a joking pass. Who knows? he thought. But I'm glad I did.

Walter looked so sexy when he slept. Without the ever-present glasses that Mulder thought acted as a barrier to the world, he appeared much younger and more vulnerable. Fox had thought of Skinner as being unemotional, utterly in control of himself, but last night the depth of his lover's passion and emotions had amazed and frightened him. He was scared now that Walter would try to withdraw after having opened himself up so much last night, that he would seek to recoup his defenses.

Skinner twitched, moaned in his sleep, and drew a sharp breath as if in fear. A nightmare. Mulder lay back down and gently shifted Walter's head to rest on his chest, smiled when Skinner draped an arm across his stomach and a leg over both of his own. There were no more cries or sudden movements--Skinner had settled into more peaceful dreams. Fox closed his eyes and let himself drift, then slide fully into sleep.

  
5:35 AM

Walter Skinner came awake slowly and found himself clasped protectively in Fox Mulder's arms. It was an unusual sensation; none of his lovers had ever held him--he was used to being the one to defend and protect, even in slumber.

God, he thought, I don't believe I told Fox all that. Stupid, stupid.... Then a little voice backtalked, Why it was so foolish? Mulder will

never use it against you, would never betray you like Cliff did. And you made him happy.

The AD pulled gently away from Fox's warm body, slipped out from under the covers, and headed across soft carpet to the cold tiles of the bathroom. One of Fox's accusations still bothered him. Why am I always on top? He asked himself. Cliff wanted...but Fox isn't Cliff.

Skinner pushed aside the cream-colored cloth shower curtain and turned on the hot water tap, put his head against the white, plaster wall and asked himself if he could trust Fox enough to trade roles? Reached down and gave the cold water tap a counterclockwise spin. Felt the rushing water's temperature then flipped the lever that forced the flow up and out the showerhead.

He stepped under the warm water and tried let it wash away his confusion--but there were so many raw questions. A woman's voice echoed, "Strong and silent. I might as well be married to a robot for all the emotion you have." His marriage to Sharon hadn't survived two years. Of course he'd married her for all the wrong reasons: he'd wanted kids and a companion and she'd seemed like a nice choice. But it had all fallen apart. She'd wanted him to talk about what was bothering him, yet when he told her about his cases she got upset and would have nightmares for days. After awhile he'd just quit discussing it. He'd always had problems opening up to other people and after Sharon he chose not to let anyone else in. His relationship with Cliff had always been more about sex than sharing, and after his failed marriage all Skinner's relationships focused on sating the physical urge.

And so Walter Skinner had moved through the last eight years with few real friends and no real loves. He hadn't realized how lonely he had been until Fox Mulder came into his life. The last seven months had shown Skinner how empty a life based solely on work truly was.

And now I've gone and blabbed to him that I've been in love with him forever, Skinner growled at himself as the water jets pricked his shoulders and hot wet ran over his naked form to puddle and pool and swirl down the drain. Damn. This was all he needed: He'd felt exposed before, now he felt like one big, tingling nerve ending. He leaned his head against the pale green tiles of the shower enclosure and let his mind go blank.

Skinner's conscious mind didn't hear the sounds in the bathroom, yet his subconscious listened, for he did not jump when a brush of

cold air announced Fox had pulled back the shower curtain, stepped over the rim of the tub and under the water flow. Skinner felt Mulder's arms encircle him. They stood under the water for a long while before Walter finally pulled away and climbed out, making no eye contact with Mulder.

Skinner dried himself hastily and walked out of the steam-filled bathroom into the chill of the bedroom, hearing the water still running. He assumed Mulder would finish his shower, allowing him time to get dressed and head downstairs. The tap shut off as he yanked a pair of briefs out of the dresser. He had leaned down to step into them when he was grabbed from behind, dragged over and tossed down on the bed. Fox, wet and breathing hard, was on top of him before he could move.

"Oh no you don't, Walter!"

"Don't what, Mulder?" he hissed into the younger man's face, "All I'm doing is getting dressed."

Mulder's voice rose an angry octave, "You're not going to withdraw behind that wall you've built around yourself. You do it every damned time you talk about your emotions!"

"After last night you've got a lot of room to talk!"

"Don't bullshit me. I know what you're doing!" Suddenly, Fox leaned down and kissed his boss, his tongue penetrating deeply into Walter's mouth. He grasped his lover's hands in each of his own and intertwined their fingers, pulling Walter's hands up over his head and holding them down on the bed. Cool droplets fell from Mulder's body and chilled Skinner's skin. Both men felt their bodies responding, their breath quickening and cocks hardening.

And then the bedside phone rang.

"Shit!" Walter pulled away.

"Fuck. Can't you just let it ring?" Mulder snapped.

"Fox, they don't call me at home unless it's important."

"Aw, hell, it could just be AT&T wanting you to switch."

"I already switched," Walter pinched Mulder's ass and rolled the

younger man off of him. Grabbed the phone from it's cradle and tucked it between his shoulder and ear. "Skinner."

"Sir, this is Baker. I'm sorry to disturb you at home so early."

"What is it?"

"Sir, Agent Mulder was right: the lab work--it looks like there were three men involved in the killings. Perkins has been interrogating the others, hoping he wouldn't have to disturb you, but it's going no where."

"All right," Walter said gruffly to he man on the other end of the line. "I'll be there soon."

"Sir, I've been trying to reach Agent Mulder, too, but I'm not getting a response. Should I try Agent Scully's...?"

Skinner glanced up at Fox and smiled. Mulder raised his eyebrows and spread his open hands. Mouthed the word, 'What?' "Mulder likes to run in the mornings," Skinner told Baker with mock solemnity. "I'm sure that's where he is."

"I tried his cellular, too. He isn't answering that either."

 "They're a pain in the ass to run with, so that doesn't surprise me. The damn case was supposed to be over after all. Leave a message on his answering machine and he'll get it when he comes back in. I'll be in there in an hour or so," Skinner put the phone down with an abrupt bang. "Why the hell couldn't you be wrong for once?" Walter asked his lover with a chuckle, "The lab is backing you up: there were three men involved in the killings. So, the third an--in your opinion probably the ringleader--is still on the loose. Baker was about to try Scully's, he's so hot to find you."

"Oh shit," Mulder sighed.

"You know, the rest of the Bureau is not as clueless as you two believe--or should I say, as clueless as you two are," Skinner reached out to ruffle Mulder's hair. "Well, come on."

Mulder was frowning, "You know, I'd really hoped I was wrong, but those two just weren't capable of orchestrating the rape and murder of those men--at least not for as long as it went on--not without getting caught."

"I know, Mulder. And I know Perkins didn't give enough of a shit to look closely," Skinner stood up and stretched, reached for the briefs that had been dropped earlier. "That's why we ordered all this extra lab work, which has, it seems, paid off. Spooky Mulder strikes again."

"Well, if it's any consolation to you all, I rarely get any satisfaction in being proven right," Mulder had laid back with his hands behind his head. Pouted at the ceiling.

"Now don't get defensive," Skinner leaned over to kiss him softly. "And get up. You'll make me horny as hell again laying there like that."

Mulder managed a small smile. "Who was that, anyway?"

"Baker. Perkins has been interrogating the suspects for the last couple of hours and getting zilch. He tried you first. They've got to be afraid that this guy will do another murder, either as his last hurrah or to throw suspicion off of the two men in custody. Without the physical evidence of a third murderer, the whole case could have been blown out the window. Good work, Mulder."

"Back in agent and AD mode," Mulder muttered, then said louder, "I don't think the UNSUB will be in a hurry to kill again." Suddenly, Mulder smiled. "Hey, you know, on a Saturday the drive into the office should only take a half hour."

"Yeah. So?"

Fox reached up to grab him and yank him down onto the bed beside him. The mattress jarred with the impact. "So we've got time to spare."

"Mulder--"

"Come on, Walter. I can concentrate much better without a raging hard on. So can you." Fox kissed Walter's mouth, then his lips slowly traveled down his boss's throat. His lean body moved to straddle Skinner's as the lips drifted lower--over Skinner's hard pectorals, over ribs, and abs....Skinner moaned a useless protest as Mulder's warm hand cupped his balls and lips brushed the head of his penis.

8:33 AM, J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, DC

Skinner thought the reassembled team's group dynamics--well, frankly--they sucked.

Perkins--pissed off enough about the lab's verification of a third killer--had not gotten anywhere with his interrogation of the two men, but refused to let Mulder have a go. This fight, Skinner knew, had everything to do with the VC unit's ego. Baker, not surprisingly, chalked it up to Perkins' anti-gay bias. Mulder incensed Baker by disagreeing with his opinion: although they'd eventually discover the identity of the third man by questioning friends and neighbors of the two arrestees, or by phone company and financial records, this would not happen in time to stop another murder. Baker was insistent that the ring leader would kill again this weekend; Mulder was not as sure and was living up to his reputation as an argumentative SOB.

The AD chose to settle things by watching the tapes of the earlier interviews and the current questioning. He came away convinced that Perkins was doing his best; he was a top-notch interrogator and was using all his skills. And Perkins wasn't about to be showed up by Mulder again if he could help it.

As the day progressed, Skinner found himself barking more and more often at Baker. Even miffed with his fellow agent, Baker stood or sat too close too Fox and took every opportunity to brush or touch him. And the way he looked at Fox when he thought no one else was watching...The man had it bad.

Comprehending and sympathetic as he was to Baker's plight, Skinner thought that if he touched Fox one more time he was going to...what? Do what? Tell Baker that Fox belonged to him and to keep his fucking hands to himself? Sure, he'd like to see the look on Baker's face. But.

All right, he told himself, first things first: I've got to get my own head together. Walter motioned for Mulder to follow him out of the viewing room and down the hall to talk.

"Fox, you're going to have to stop Baker. I can't concentrate on the case and the whole thing is turning into a bloody balls up."

Mulder twitched his shoulders, looked off down the corridor, "Baker's just pissed--"

"No. That's not the problem, Mulder. That's not what's going on with Baker."

"He looked back to Skinner. "Then what is?"

Walter sighed, speaking close to the agent's ear, "Mulder, you may have the highest IQ around, but about certain things you are incredibly dense. Baker has fallen for you. Hard, from the looks of things. He's been coming on to you since we got here."

Fox looked startled and then Walter watched him think about the day. "Shit!"

A chagrined smile widened Walter's lips, "Fortunately Perkins has been too busy to notice or you can bet that the gossip mills would be pumping out on Monday. I, however, have not been able to get so wrapped up in the case that I fail to notice and I'm fighting down some violent urges to punch the bastard."

Mulder looked at his boss, wide-eyed. Whispered, "Damn, you really must care. I never thought anything could interfere with your ice-cold concentration at work. "

"You wanted an in on my emotions. I'm giving it to you," Skinner's voice was low and strained.

"Okay. Okay," Mulder seemed a little stunned. "Just remember this morning and work on plans for tonight and I'll keep my distance from Baker." Then Mulder leaned in very close to Walter to reassure, "Don't worry, Walter. I'm all yours."

They turned back to the interrogation observation room and met Baker coming out. "It's still a bust in there, Sir. We've got to let Mulder try."

Fox blushed slightly and Walter tightened his jaw and his fists. "A-a-actually, Sir," Mulder stuttered, "I do think I've thought of an angle we haven't tried. If you'll let me, I'd like to have a go at Jeffries."

Skinner reigned his temper in and nodded, "Right. I'll have a word with Perkins."

  
The SAC had a tantrum, but in the end Skinner was the boss. The four of them, Skinner, Perkins, Baker, and Peters--the one other member of the VC team that Baker had been able to contact that Saturday morning--sat behind the one way mirror and watched as Mulder entered the interrogation room and sat down across the table

from the young man with a bottle-blond crew cut and glimmering eyes. Mulder didn't seem in much of hurry, just leaned back, looking very relaxed. "So Mr. Jeffries," he finally asked, his voice tinny over the small speakers, "you still maintain that you and Brown committed these murders alone?"

"Fuck off, you fag-loving cocksucker," Jeffries sat back and stretched his legs out under the table, mimicking Mulder.

With an quick, easy grace, Fox sat up and leaned in close to Jeffries--the creak of his leather gun holster and the crinkle of the cloth of his suit audible to the men behind the one-way glass. He squeezed Jeffries' hand. Said softly, "Well, that should make me just your type."

"What the fuck you mean by that?"

"All of those men were jerked off and then butt-fucked before you murdered them, so I'd say you must be a faggot yourself. Murder's a harsh way of denying your sexual preference, though, don't you think?"

In the observation room, Skinner took a deep breath in time with Baker. "Go for it, Mulder," the other agent quietly encouraged from Skinner's right.

"What the hell is he doing?" Perkins grumbled.

Walter saw Jeffries eyes go wide, then the young man sat back grinning, "I'm not a cocksucker and we were just giving them what they wanted. I prefer women but, you know, any hole in a storm."

"I see," Mulder rose half-way, bending over the table to run a long finger down the man's chest, stopping at his waistline. Panicked, Jeffries shoved his chair back, away from the agent's hand. Mulder smiled seductively, "Well I'm glad you feel that way, cause a pretty boy like you is going to be supplying his hole to a lot of men in prison. And if you've never sucked cock, you will be soon."

"Get the fuck away from me, man!" Jeffries jumped up.

Mulder followed, his tall, black-suited form backing the smaller man into the corner of the cinder block room. "I'll go. Just tell me who the third accomplice is."

"No chance," Jeffries snapped, raising his arms to defend himself. Skinner's muscles tensed, his ass was half out his seat. Beside him, Baker's breathing was loud.

Only Mulder's profile visible as he told Jeffries silkily, "He's the leader and my bet is that he's queer as a three dollar bill. He used you guys--used you so that he could get laid and do his kinky stuff. He's the one that sucked 'em, isn't he? Because, from what you say, it couldn't have been you, right?" Mulder's hand reached out.

"Get away from me!" Jeffries took a shallow swing, which Mulder easily avoided.

"Go on," the agent taunted. "Give me an excuse to put the cuffs on you, Jeffries. You think any one will care what I do after that? You think any one here is going to rush to help you?"

The man was squirming against the thickly-painted wall, half hidden by Mulder's body. "What do you want? You want to cut a deal?"

Skinner released a burst of air through his nose. He wasn't sure how long he had been holding his breath, but his lungs ached when he sucked oxygen back in. "Sonofabitch," Perkins mumbled.

Mulder was still pushing, moving up tight against the man in orange prison scrubs, telling Jeffries, "Deals take a long time and someone might die before that."

"What do I care if another fag dies?"

"I don't suppose you would, but I'm really surprised that you want a deal."

"Why not?"

"Well, you're smart enough to know that you aren't going to walk. So the best you could hope for would be to get the charges reduced. But even with that you're still looking at twenty-five to life." Mulder paused. "Oh, I see why you want to cut a deal. Allows you to get fucked on a regular basis."

"What you mean by that?" Jeffries voice squeaked up in pitch.

"The best you could hope for would be a move to a medium security facility. Lots more opportunities to get fucked at a medium security

site than a maximum. I can see your point."

Silence. The tap of Mulder's fingers against the wall as he braced himself with one hand. What might have been a whimper from Jeffries. Then--

"Richard Watson. That's all I know. He contacts us. We've never been to his place and we don't have a phone number. Met him at the Lone Star Bar on the south side of Richmond."

Mulder dropped his arm, turned on his heel and walked out. As Skinner and the others hurried out of the viewing room, they found the agent collapsed against the wall by the door, his upturned face pale. Baker grasped his upper arm in support but Mulder twitched away. Glanced briefly at Walter, wanting reassurance. Skinner could do no more than offer an authoritarian nod.

"Well, well, Mulder, I guess it takes one cocksucking faggot to know one," Perkins quipped.

Something snapped in Walter Skinner's chest. His fingers balled and his arm began to lift, but Mulder stepped in to block him. The agent bent to shout in Perkins' face, "Let's get this straight: First, I took the approach I did because I thought it would work. And guess what? It did. And two, I think you should look a little closer to home for faggots."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Perkins sneered.

"It means that you've botched this case from day one, and all because it involved homosexual males," Mulder's voice had jagged edge. "You were willing to let men die because their sexual preferences were supposedly different from yours. Makes me wonder, Perkins--if you are so threatened by their sexual preferences maybe they aren't so different from yours after all. Maybe you want a man to suck your cock or fuck your ass."

"You sonofabitch!" Perkins pulled back and took a swing at Mulder. Fox had seen it coming and dodged and blocked, but the agent's fist still connected solidly with his chin, whipping his head around. Before Perkins could take another swing, Skinner and Baker had each grabbed an arm and dragged his flailing body back down the hall, away from Mulder.

"Calm down, Perkins! Right now!" the AD shouted. When Perkins

finally went quiescent, Skinner turned to Fox. "You okay, Agent Mulder?"

Mulder rubbed his chin and did not meet Walter's gaze. "Yes, Sir. I'm fine."

"Mulder, your work on this case has been exceptional. However, I think that VC can handle it from here. Go home and get some rest and take Monday off. Scully's not due back until Wednesday and you've earned the break." He nodded his dismissal to Mulder and turned to the others. "Agent Perkins you are under four days of suspension for striking another agent and your poor handling of this case. We will discuss your future when you return on Friday." As Perkins started to argue Skinner interrupted, "That will be all!"

Skinner turned Perkins loose and the man slunk off down the corridor in opposite direction from Fox Mulder. Skinner watched him go with narrow eyes. "Baker, you're in charge of this case for the time being. You and Peters get to work on finding Richard Watson. I'd like to see you in my office in half an hour."

Walter looked away to see Mulder glaring. He wanted to sigh but resisted. "Agent Mulder, I told you to go get some rest."

"Sir, I'd rather see the case to the finish."

"I know you would, but you've done the hard part and your presence is only going to aggravate an already tense situation."

Mulder stood with hands on his hips, biting his full lower lip, gaze darting around the hall, eyes anywhere but on Skinner. "Fine," he finally said. "I'll go home." Skinner knew from his tone that Mulder intended to return to his apartment rather than Walter's house.

Skinner unbent slightly, just a trace of sadness in his eyes as he said, "For once, Agent Mulder, do what's best."

  
4:15 PM, Skinner's office

Skinner and Baker were concluding an hour-long strategy meeting. Peterson was already off to get a court order for phone records and Skinner had pulled in some available agents off SAC Vanderbilt's team to head for Richmond. Agent Hill was online with VICAP; a sketch artist was in with Jeffries making up a composite.

As Baker got up to leave Skinner stopped him, "One more moment of your time, Agent Baker."

"Yes, Sir?"

"I'm reluctant to bring this up," Skinner did not look up from the note pad on which he had been taking notes--just held the pen's point firmly on the paper. "I want to head off trouble before it starts, Baker. Two things: Agent Mulder cannot afford the label of being a homosexual, he has enough trouble in the Bureau as it is. Therefore, I believe that you should refrain from making any more advances and leave him alone."

Baker blinked and cleared his throat. "Sir?"

Skinner's eyes came up, "I was never as naive nor obtuse as you and my late partner seemed to think. If I choose to ignore something it's because recognizing it means that I have to act on my knowledge. It does not mean, and never has, that I was unaware of what was going on. Making a pass at someone and being turned down is perfectly acceptable between adults. However, the behavior I witnessed today is not. It would qualify as sexual harassment and as AD it is an unpleasant part of my job to stop it."

Skinner noticed a trace of fresh sweat above the agent's lip. The blond man raised a hand to jerk at his collar. "Has Mulder said anything, Sir?"

"No, and knowing Mulder he's unlikely to. I saw both your expressions on Thursday night and it was obvious that Agent Mulder wasn't interested. Today he was too wrapped up in the case to notice, but if such behavior continues it won't go unnoticed by other agents. Mulder doesn't need that. The Bureau doesn't need it. There are three outstanding lawsuits for discrimination and sexual harassment right now. We don't need the publicity from word getting out that one male agent was not taking no as an answer from another male agent. If I see any more of this behavior I will be forced to transfer you. Is that clear?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. It won't happened again." Baker shifted nervously on the AD's plush carpet..

"Good. Hopefully it will keep me from having to ship you off to Boise. You do good work. I'd rather not lose you."

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir."

"Dismissed."

  
5:01 PM, Fox Mulder's apartment, Alexandria, Virginia

The answering machine light was blinking when Mulder returned from his run. He stood, bent at the waist, hands on thighs, glaring at the machine and taking deep breaths through his mouth. He was still annoyed, but the run had managed to take the edge off of his anger. He reached out to hit the play button, expecting to hear Skinner's voice blither about some bogus file. Instead he heard Agent Baker asking him to call.

Afraid that there had been trouble with the case, Fox immediately dialed Baker on his cellular while heading to the bedroom to strip. The phone rang just once before it was lifted from its cradle. "Hello?"

"Baker? Mulder here."

A pause. Twenties jazz in the background and the clatter of pots and pans. "Listen, Mulder--I-I wanted to apologize for today."

"You don't owe me any apology." Mulder sat on his bed to unlace his running shoes.

"Yes. Yes, I do, Mulder. You've got enough trouble in the Bureau without me coming on to you in front of other agents. It won't happen again."

"Why are you telling me this, Baker? Especially after that display that I put on today."

"Skinner."

"Fuck! What did he say?" Mulder pulled off and slammed one shoe to the floor.

"Hey, don't worry, Mulder," Baker hurried to placate. "He knows you're straight and weren't interested."

Fox rolled his eyes to the ceiling and sank backwards onto the

mattress. "Uh-huh."

"Skinner just said that my behavior could cause you trouble in the Bureau and could be considered as sexual harassment." Another long pause filled with the sound of water running in a kitchen sink miles away. "Mulder, look, I care for you. I don't want to cause you trouble. That's all I wanted to say. Bye." Baker hung up abruptly.

Fox punched the disconnect and murmured, "Thanks for holding off the hounds, Walt." Suddenly, his anger at his lover seemed a pointless waste of time. He sat up, kicking off his other shoe, and hurried down the hall to the bathroom, shedding clothing as he went. If he showered quickly and headed out, he might beat Skinner home.

End Part 3

  
Turnabout Chances  
By Alex Jones, E, and Lisby  
Part 4

8:30 PM, Prosperity Avenue, Fairfax, Virginia

Fox Mulder balanced the cordless phone between his shoulder and ear, breathing steam from the pot of boiling water on the range. Voice mail. Kim Cooke's crisp tones saying leave a message. Assuming that that meant Skinner was on his way, Mulder dropped the fettuccine into the bubbling water. The white sauce he'd picked up from his favorite Italian deli was in the microwave ready to be heated when Walter arrived. The garlic bread was warming in the oven.

"C'mon, Walter," Fox sat down at the kitchen table, slipped his reading glasses onto the bridge of his long nose, and flipped the page of the latest issue of 'Omni.' "Don't play any games tonight. Just get home before the pasta overcooks."

  
Tired and depressed, Walter pulled into his driveway and parked--too damn weary to mess with the garage. Do a little paperwork, grab a sandwich, and head up to bed. He'd tried Fox a dozen times at his apartment over the last couple of hours but had only gotten the machine and no answer at all on the cellular. The old, cast iron mailbox was stuffed full. He extracted the bundle of envelopes and tucked it under his arm, sighed in sadness and frustration as he unlocked the front door to house.

Skinner flicked on the light over the stairs and stood numbly flipping through offers for free all-expense paid vacations to the Caribbean and a trial subscription to a new Time-Life series on mass murders. Just what I need, he smirked. A pungent smell tickled his nose. He looked up from his Texaco bill. Garlic? Then the door to the kitchen opened, spilling light, and Fox Mulder leaned against the jam looking at him silently.

Walter dropped the mail on the entry table and walked slowly towards Fox, thanking God, or whatever was up there, for the shy smile on Fox's face. Slowly he raised his hand to cup his lover's cheek. Fox opened his arms and pulled Walter in gently, holding him tight. Skinner's body stiffened, but after a moment the AD could no longer fight the comfort of Mulder's embrace and relaxed, allowing the younger man to support him.

After a long, peaceful moment, Fox put a hand under Walter's chin and lifted it up so that he could kiss him. The kiss was long and sensual and made Skinner moan in his throat, but Fox broke away gently, "Come on, Walter, I've got dinner ready. Hope Fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and garlic bread is okay." Skinner's eyes widened in surprise and made Mulder grin. "I bought the Alfredo sauce at Antiono's. The rest was simple." Turning, he guided Walter to the kitchen table with an arm around his shoulders.

The AD sat and Mulder served. They ate quietly and when they were finished Fox got up and began to gather the dishes. "You cooked, I clean." Walter protested.

"Not tonight. You've had a rough day, so go on into the study and relax. I'll join you in a couple of minutes."

"Your day wasn't exactly a picnic, Fox."

"Yeah, but I've had time to relax. You haven't."

Walter thought about arguing but was too damned tired, instead he grasped Fox's hand and pulled him down, kissing him gently on the lips before getting up to head into his study. Not bothering to turn on the lights, Skinner sank down on the well-padded sofa. The softness of it eased his body and clouded his mind and soon his head had fallen back and he was asleep.

He awoke laying on his stomach on the sofa, his head turned into the cushions. Light from the muted television flickered over patterned upholstery. Skinner tried to roll onto his side but a weight on his hips prevented him. A lift of his head and a quick glimpse over his shoulder showed him Fox Mulder asleep with his head resting on the AD's ass and an arm curled around his midsection. Reaching a hand down, he ruffled Fox's hair and then shook the sleeping agent.

"Come on, Fox, wake up. Let's go to bed."

"Hmmmrump."

Skinner shook him a bit harder, "Come on, Mulder."

"I'm... 'sleep... now..."

"Yeah, but my butt's numb. Come on, bedtime."

"Spoil sport," Mulder mumbled, batting ineffectually at Skinner's ass. Finally roused himself enough to sit up. "Hmmmm,". 'Mystery Science Theater' is on."

Walter followed Fox's eyes to the TV as he sat up. "Oh, no you don't. If you've got enough energy to watch that, you've got enough energy for other activities."

"And what would those be, Sir?"

Walter froze. Despite the teasing tone, being called 'Sir' stung him. Seeing the pained expression cross Skinner's features, Fox quickly grasped his hand and brought it up so that he could kiss Walter's palm. "It's okay, I know you were only doing what you had to do."

"That doesn't mean that I have to like it." He cast a sideways glance at Fox and added, "I took Monday off."

"Isn't that a bit risky... I mean if you're planning on us spending it together?"

"I don't know. Don't really think so. I told Baker and Peters that with both you and Perkins off it was the best chance I'd had in weeks for an uninterrupted break. Funny, I didn't have any trouble convincing them of that fact."

"Bastard," Fox grinned.

"Pain-in-the-ass," Walter shot back.

"Ah, but I'm your very own, special pain-in-the-ass," Fox replied, lifting his body from the sofa with a groan.

Walter set the alarm while Mulder closed down the kitchen. Both men headed upstairs under the hall light's dim 40-watt bulb.

  
Mulder heard the muffled rush of water from the shower as he made a visual sweep of the bedroom for the paperback copy of 'Embraced by the Light,' that he'd left last weekend.

Nightstand. Maybe the nightstand. He turned to the rustic Colonial, or who-knew-what-era thing and eased open its perpetually sticking front drawer. Bingo. There was the sky blue cover of his book beneath a paper bag with a crumpled top. Mulder peeked inside without hesitation and froze in shock. Looked up at Walter as he entered the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his midriff. They both blushed red when Mulder held up the ball gag. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Not really, Mulder."

"Try."

Skinner sighed and shrugged uncomfortably. "Last week I got routed a list of evidence that was going to be disposed of to clean out the property room."

"Yeah?"

"Some of it was stuff confiscated from a sex shop. They were getting rid of everything that wasn't illegal or hadn't been used at trial. They were going to throw it away since selling it wouldn't be too good for the FBI's image."

"Uh-huh. So how did you end up with this...this...paraphernalia?" Mulder dangled the ball gag by his thumb and forefinger, eyes sparkling with a giddy curiosity.

"I made a trip down after hours and picked up a few items that seemed interesting." Walter looked at the carpet.

The AD's hang-dog expression finally cracked Mulder up. He dropped from a kneeling position to sit on the floor with his back against the bed and his head thrown back.

"What the fuck's so funny, Mulder?"

Fox fought to catch his breath before replying, "Now HERE'S a whole new facet of Assistant Director Walter S. Skinner for me!"

For a moment Skinner stayed angry, then his lips pulled into a smile and he started to chuckle. "Frankly, I didn't know I had it in me either. Once I brought those things here I realized I'd never get up the nerve to show them to you, so I stuffed them in the nightstand figuring I could throw them away later."

"No, don't do that," Mulder mused. "Maybe we should try them sometime. I-I've always been interested--" Fox's voice faded out. His lips quirked into an apologetic smile. "It's hard to admit these things, isn't it?"

Skinner stopped laughing. For a moment, he seemed to be wrestling with something, then he crossed the room to kneel down by Fox and run one finger along his lover's jaw line, then down his chest. He teased one nipple then the other through the soft cotton fabric of Mulder's shirt. Fox felt a fire kindle in his stomach, then move down to his groin. Felt the stirring of his cock inside his jeans. He was all-but-panting when Walter whispered, "I want you to fuck me."

Stunned, Mulder tripped over his words, "N-no, Walt. You don't have to--you really don't need to do that."

"I know that I don't, but I want to. I've wanted you to for a long time but never gotten the nerve up to ask. Last night... well you implied that you might be interested and I sure as hell know that I want you to. That is if you'd like to?"

"Oh yeah," Mulder's confessed. "I'd like to very much."

"Good and since I'm confessing what I'd like," he withdrew a black, cloth blindfold from the bag in the drawer and handed it to Mulder, "Use 'em."

"The blindfold and the ball gag?" Mulder swallowed hard. "That's a lot of control to be giving me at once. Maybe we should take it slower--you know, a step at a time--"

"Shut up, Dr. Mulder," Skinner smirked. "And give me the goods. I'll do it myself." The younger man watched with a fresh flush of arousal as Walter put them on and laid face down on the bed.

Coaching himself movement by movement, Fox took both pairs of handcuffs out of the nightstand and snapped them onto Walter's wrists, cuffing him to headboard. Straightening up, he slowly stripped off his clothes, surprised at how aroused he was. In every sexual relationship he'd had, Mulder had always been the bottom. This was new ground for him, too.

When he had removed his clothes, he sat down on the bed by his lover and began a gentle massage of his body. He explored every inch that he could reach with his hands and lips while Skinner moaned and writhed in helpless ecstasy, the bones and muscles of his broad shoulders shifting beneath Mulder's weight, hips bucking, his skin giving off the scent of fear as well as arousal. Mulder sat up and watched Skinner shiver, knowing what it was like to lay there helpless. Felt the sick turn of his gut echoed by tightness in his scrotum. Knew how his skin crawled as he waited to be touched. How the need to run made him pull against the cuffs while the desire to stay made him pray for his lover to hurry--fucking hurry....

Now Skinner was face down on the sheets. Helpless. And it felt so strange to have Walter's well-muscled back and buttocks before him. He could do whatever he wanted....To have such power over him...it felt good, really good. Fox ran a hand down his lover's spine then went on to stroke his ass and thighs. Leaning down, he kissed first one cheek then the other, nipping slightly, then he moved farther down to bite and tease the other man's thighs. Walter arched back and moaned.

Fox rose up and lay down on top of him, whispering into his ear, "Do you like that? Does it turn you on?" He gently bit the earlobe before pulling back slightly. His hands ran up Walter's arms then back down again, down his sides to cup and knead his ass. Again, Skinner moaned, nodding.

Mulder levered himself up off his companion and knelt beside him. Copying the AD's actions of the night before, he rolled Walter so that he could put a pillow under his stomach, moved him back, and reached between Skinner's legs to grasp and stretch Walter's erection, feeling his own throb with every pull he made.

Skinner's shoulders were tight, his back arched into a bow, and the moans coming from his throat were more desperate. Fox stopped his stroking abruptly; the action was met by a groan from the man at his mercy.

Leaning down, he spoke softly into Walter's ear, "Are you mine now? Do you belong to me?"

The man beneath him nodded.

"Do you want me to fuck you?"

Another nod. Good, because Fox could wait no longer himself. He had to feel what it would be like to be inside Walter--to move inside his lover and to bring him to release.

His fingers fumbled in the open drawer for the lubricant. Realized his hands shook because he was afraid of hurting his lover, Fox decided that the gag would have to go. Carefully, he unfastened the buckle. "We'll have to save this for another time. I'm inexperienced and I need your guidance," he confessed. "I'm really enjoying this, but giving pain doesn't turn me on."

Walter took a deep breath as the ball popped out of his mouth, spoke in a throaty whisper, "Fox, I thought you understood. I've never had anyone fuck me before, I don't know how much guidance I can give."

Surprised by this admission, Fox answered. "I was a virgin my first time with you, too. It was..." Mulder found himself choking up at the remembrance. Hell, he thought, my equilibrium is as fucked up as Walter's. Fox took a deep breath to collect himself, "Just tell me how you did it. And especially if I'm hurting you." Mulder leaned even closer to whisper, "I never, never want to hurt you."

The man beneath him squirmed at the breath in his ear. "All right, Fox. Use lots of lube and stretch me with your fingers, slowly."

Fox warmed the lubricant in his hand before gently parting Skinner's ass and spreading the gel around the rim of tightly closed sphincter. Held his breath and slid in one finger, then a second. Skinner gasped and his muscles contracted, squeezing, as Mulder began to move the fingers in and out, to spread them, preparing Skinner for another. Mulder jumped as one finger ran over Skinner's prostate and Walter drew in a sharp breath. "Shit. God, Walt, Did I hurt you?"

"No, that felt great," Skinner replied through clenched teeth. "Do it again." Fox obliged and Walter groaned at the stimulation. "Oh yes... more..." Skinner bit his lip. "Now, please now, Fox. I want to feel you inside me." He pushed up against the hand at his buttocks.

Pulling his fingers out and kneeling between his lover's legs, he gently placed the head of his penis against Walter's opening. He pushed with what he thought was the correct amount of force but did not penetrate.

"Harder. Don't worry you're not hurting--" Walter pushed up against Fox's erect cock and the glans popped inside him. A yelp. Mulder gripped the older man's shoulder. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I know it burns, but just for a minute."

Now he had to hold himself back from thrusting, to give Skinner a moment to ride out that first bruising ache. To him, this felt wonderful, so tight, so hot, and Walter stretched out beneath him. He ran his hands up Walter's imprisoned arms and bit his lover's neck. His head spun with arousal. The older man moaned and pushed up against him. Fox took that as permission to go ahead and began to thrust slowly and carefully, then a little harder, a little harder until both were gasping and making small cries and Fox knew he was going to come soon, soon...

He reached under him and began to stroke Skinner's cock in rhythm with his penetration. Suddenly, the man beneath him stiffened and yelled, his hard body jumping. The Muscles of Skinner's ass squeezed tight around Mulder's penis and he yelled, "Oh shit! What the hell? Fuck!" And it was too much and he threw back his head and made a guttural shout as he came inside Skinner.

After a moment, Mulder sank down, panting. Walter began to chuckle. Fox pulled out gently and flopped down beside him on the bed. As Skinner's chuckle soon turned to laughter, Mulder slapped him not to gently on the ass. This only made Walter laugh harder. "You might have told me, you sonofabitch."

The bed was shaking with the force of Walter's laughter. "It didn't occur to me that you wouldn't know until you shouted in my ear. By then it was too late."

"Yeah. Sure," Fox reached over to retrieve the handcuff key from the nightstand and unlocked the cuffs. Walter rolled over, removed the blindfold. "What--did you think, that I was being altruistic when I jerked you off while screwing you? The orgasm causes the sphincter to spasm. It's quite an experience." Laughter again.

"No shit," Mulder looked over at his lover and caught his breath. He'd never seen Walter so look relaxed and happy, never heard him laugh that freely. When Skinner noticed Mulder's expression, his laughter petered off abruptly. "No fucking way, Skinner," Mulder snapped. "Don't you dare. I've never seen you smile and laugh like that before."

"Looking like a goofball doesn't contribute to an authoritative image. I spent years learning not to laugh or really smile."

"Well, while you're around me you can just unlearn. Trust me enough to let me see this side of you, okay?"

Walter nodded, leaned forward and kissed Fox. "Let's go get cleaned up."

  
Once under the warm water, Skinner soaping Mulder's body, he asked, "So what did you think, Fox? Did you like it?"

Mulder sighed at the comforting touch of Skinner's hands, "What's not to like, Walt? The question is, did you like it?"

"Did I like it?" The older man paused, but the answer came quickly. "It was great and a real turn on--cuffs and blindfold, too. Though I don't think I could ever trust anyone but you enough to... well to..."

"I know and I feel the same way."

"I would have never trusted Cliff to see me like this. Only you, Fox."

  
Eleven Days Later. 12:45 PM. Walter Skinner's Office

It had taken the Bureau and local police well over a week to discover Watson's ramshackle house outside Aquia, Virginia. Watson had a history of firearms violations, as well an arrest for attempted murder with a handgun that had been thrown out before trial. The man could only be considered armed and dangerous.

Skinner had sent good agents down there--agents that could work with local law enforcement to get the job done. Baker, Hill, Farrell, Peters, Vanderbilt, Mosler, Parsee, Sanchez, Scully--all at Aquia. And Mulder. They were equally at risk, but the only one he feared for was Mulder. He couldn't justify keeping his lover out of the line of fire and never would be able to do so. All he could do was sit and stare at 302s, at appraisals, at requests for transfers and try not to scream or put his fist through the wall. To watch the agonizing progression of time as revealed by a desktop clock.

His palms were sweaty as he signed his name with a slippery pen, over and over, to who-the-fuck knew what. He wasn't really reading any of it, seeing it...When the intercom buzzed he straightened up with a startle. Hit the speaker button, "Yes?"

"Agent Parsee on the line for you, Sir." Kimberly told him.

"Put him through."

Parsee's voice was half buried by background noise--the squawking of radios and speech of other law enforcement officers. "Sir, I'm at Stafford County Command Center. We just got a report that there was a fire fight and the suspect was killed, two agents were injured, one critically."

Walter fought down the panic in his gut, "Do you have the names of the agents and the extent of their injuries?"

"No, Sir. The suspect's home is near an electrical plant that's interfering with RF communication. We got our report from Stafford County General as the wounded were being brought in. One agent has a shoulder wound, the other agent took a shot to the neck and it's bad."

"Get back on the line and get me the facts from Stafford General, Parsee," Skinner ordered through gritted teeth.

"Yes, Sir. I'll get right back with you, Sir."

Skinner slammed the phone down and lobbed his pen across the room. He stood up and kicked his chair out of the way to pace, hissing obscenities. His stomach was a knot of terror, cold sweat on his forehead. The door cracked open and Kim Cooke peeked inside, "Sir, are you okay?"

Before he could answer, his private line rang. He reached out and snatched the receiver, barking, "Skinner."

"I'm okay. I'm only going to need a few stitches. Peters took a shot to the neck and has lost a lot of blood. They won't know about him for several hours. I've got to go. Too many people." A dull buzz in his ear. Mulder had hung up. Skinner put down the phone.

"Sir?" Kim asked again.

Even with years of practice, it took every skill he had learned, and more, to keep from betraying any emotion that the voice on the phone had stirred. "I'm fine, Kim. Peters was shot in the raid. Get me his wife on the line."

"Yes, Sir."

He heard his heart pounding in his ears and felt it's strong pulse throughout his body as he dragged his chair back to his desk and sat down. Resting his head on his hands, he told himself over and over: Fox is alive and okay...only another close call...Fox is alive....

He lifted his head when Cooke buzzed. Gloria Peters was waiting.

  
6:15 PM

A soft knock on his office door. Kim again. "Sir--"

Before she could finish, Mulder was pushing by, coat draped over his arm, a light yellow shirt that did not match his gray trousers unbuttoned enough that Skinner could see a thick bandage and tape. Walter gaped, at a loss for words. All he could do was stare. He wanted to hold the man in front of him so much that restraining himself took every ounce of will he had. Mulder stared back, wavering a little. His face was white, lips pale...

Both men suddenly became aware of Scully silently watching them from the doorway. "Sit, Mulder, before you fall down," Skinner tried to sound gruff. "You, too, Scully."

Mulder took a few shaky steps to the conference table and sank into a seat. Scully came further into the office, smoothing her skirt before she sat in a chair in front of Skinner's desk.

"Report, Scully. Mulder isn't up to it."

The small redhead brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek, looked toward Mulder, "I'm sure Hill's called you about Peters. It was touch and go--"

"Yes, I spoke to her a few minutes ago. She said he's in ICU now, that they think he's stabilized. What about the suspect, Scully?"

She pursed her full lips, reflected for a moment before she spoke calmly, "Watson was shot and killed by Agent Mulder after he had shot Peters and was turning to fire on a Stafford County Police Officer. I'm sure that IA will declare it as a justified shooting." Scully again looked to Mulder, who stared down dully at the table. Her orange brows knitted with concern. "Watson had a victim in the basement, Sir. Still alive and in good condition. Stafford General looked him over and released him. He's at Fredericksburg with Vanderbilt giving his statement....Sir, in light of Agent Mulder's injury, perhaps we could finish the debriefing tomorrow?"

"Of course, Scully," Skinner nodded. "Both of you go home and get some rest."

Dana Scully got up and walked to the door. Mulder rose stiffly and started to follow, looking back over his shoulder at the AD

"Tonight?" Skinner mouthed.

Mulder nodded and followed Scully out.

  
8:20 PM, Prosperity Avenue

Skinner slid the key into the lock, pushed open the door with his shoulder. Behind him the automatic door of the garage slid shut with a clang, locking his car and Mulder's in for the night. To Walter's surprise, there was no sign of Fox in the kitchen or his study. Skinner made himself a quick ham sandwich and headed upstairs to look, eating as he went along.

Fox was asleep in the bed, curled on his left side with the quilt pulled up to his chin. A prescription bottle sat open on the nightstand by a half-empty glass of water. Walter sat down gently on the edge of the bed and studied his lover. Still wan with dark circles under his eyes. He peeled back the blanket to look at a shoulder bandaged and taped, front and back. "A few stitches, huh?" he whispered, and drew the quilt back up.

 Skinner sat on the bed, watching Fox breath regularly, feeling an indescribable relief with every rise and fall of the younger man's chest. When he had shed his clothing and tried to climb carefully into bed, Fox rolled onto his back and blinked rapidly, clearing his vision, "I've been waiting for you."

"You were dreaming you were waiting for me," Skinner thumped at his pillows.

"How are you doing?"

"How are YOU doing? I see they gave you some painkillers."

"Yeah," Mulder yawned, gently feeling at the wound beneath the bandages. "Doesn't hurt right now. 'S'okay," another yawn.

"The bullet went right through, didn't it? A few stitches my ass," Skinner snuggled in closer to Fox, carefully slid a hand under his right arm and around his chest.

He couldn't see Fox's face but he could tell that he was smiling. "Murdered my new gray suit jacket....Really, Walter, the bandages make it look worse than it is. I'm going to be sore as hell for a few days and then it'll be fine. Don't get on me about it, okay? I've already been through it all with Scully."

Skinner lifted himself with an elbow so that he could look Mulder in the eye, "Thanks for calling. For thinking about me, for caring..." No more words would come as his voice faded off. Walter raised his hand and allowed the back of his index finger to gently stroke Fox Mulder's cheek.

"Make love to me, Walter."

"What about your shoulder? You don't have to do this for me."

"I'm not doing this for you... I need you tonight. I need you," his eyes were pleading. "Please."

"How can I without hurting you?" Another look at Fox and he couldn't say no...."All right, but you go on top or let me go down on you."

Fox looked away and then sat up, grimacing at the pain the sudden motion caused. Walter thought he saw a single tear run down Mulder's cheek. "Oh, Fox," he sat up and moved over to kneel on the bed behind his lover, pulling him back into his arms.

Finally after several minutes, Mulder began to talk. The words came out haltingly. He fought for every one: "I need you to make love to me. To be on top of me, in me. I want to feel safe and protected and more than any place else that's how being under you, in your arms, makes me feel. We came so close today....I-I need to feel you inside of me. I need your shelter." Finally he shifted so that he could meet Skinner's gaze.

Tears glistened in Walter's eyes. "Oh shit, I'm so stupid," Fox cupped Walter's face and gently brushed a tear out of the corner of Walter's eye. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"God, Fox. How do you do it? You touch me in ways and places no one has before...you reach depths that I didn't know existed. Come here." Walter lowered him down carefully onto the bed, kissing him long and lingeringly and then worked his way down to kiss and suck at each sensitive nipple. Fox's skin smelled of sterile topical solutions and medical tape, but to Skinner it was wonderful. It smelled like healing and safety.

Mulder made a small sound like a whimper when Skinner's lips moved over his lover's stomach and then his groin. The older man sucked and kissed his cock until Mulder was gasping and rolling his head and grinding his fists into the mattress. Now Skinner carefully rolled Fox over onto his stomach and prepared him with lubricant. Bracing himself with his arms on either side of Fox's shoulders, Skinner shoved his cock deep inside. The younger man moaned and arched. "Yes, oh yes. Harder, please, harder."

"I don't want to hurt--"

"Just do to it, Walter. Please, just fucking do it!"

Skinner thrust deeper, his hips slamming into Mulder's ass, his balls slapping Mulder's, grunting and moaning and thrusting harder as Fox told him again and again to fuck him. Sweat dripped off his face onto Mulder's neck and he watched the younger man clutch at the bedcovers and bounce with the force of the penetration. Now his hand slipped under Mulder to grasp his cock and stimulate him, making him come with a shout of ecstasy as his seed stained the sheets. The ring of muscle tightened around his own penis and with a few, quick thrusts Skinner came, crying out, his chest sagging down between tired arms as his semen pumped into Mulder.

"Oh God," Fox whispered. His face looked white.

Walter quickly pulled out, embarrassed and worried. "Are you all right?"

Fox rolled over onto his back, "I'm fine. I'm fine." Paused, then whispered, "Thanks."

"For what? Fucking you? Believe me it was my pleasure," Walter tried to smile.

"For that and for trusting me. It must have been hard not pulling me off the team today."

"Damned hard, but I realize I've got to trust you. That I can't protect you all the time."

"Just most of it, huh?" Fox grinned at Walter, then got serious. "We have to trust each other. I just want you to know that if you had tried to get me removed from the capture team... well, I'd never have felt comfortable letting you see how much I needed you tonight. I would have always been afraid that you'd let your knowledge of my weaknesses sway you. I want to be able to be vulnerable every now and then, but not have your faith in me as an agent shaken. And I want to see that side of you as well."

Walter smiled and pulled Fox into his arms. "That's not easy, for either of us, but it's definitely getting better."

They settled down to sleep in contentment and the dreams they both feared never came to call.

End Part 3. Chances Series

  
Well the debate rages on what we are going to do next... so keep on the lookout for the next story in the series... It'll have Chance in the title and be by Aj. Thanks for all the help and encouragement and if for some reason your e didn't get answered our apologies but the mail box is still a bit tricky and we sometimes have trouble figuring what's been answered and what hasn't. 

E and Aj

 

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Um, okay. I've never done this before, so here goes: All of these characters belong to Chris Carter and Ten-thirteen Productions. Skippy is just borrowing them and I'm sure she feels deep appreciation in the bottom of her little black *blink*ing soul to have been given the honor of their use sans lawsuit.  
This is a parody of the "Chances" series by AJ and E, and most recently by AJ and E and me (I would be Lisby). Skippy is a nom-de-Net and I can say nothing...Ooooo, I'd best say nothing. AJ and E got a chuckle out of this and okayed its posting. It's not part of their timeline; it's just a joke, so everybody go "eheh eheh."  
Warning! Warning! This piece features B&D between two males. If this makes you go "ewwwwww," then stop reading right now or don't say I didn't tell you so. No one else will have any sympathy for you either. This is a definite NC-17.  
All feedback for Skippy can be sent to , the zealous protector of her anonymity and full-time small, gray lap kitten.

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Changes IV: Chance Encounters  
by Skippy  
Finished 4/22/96

Walter Skinner signed off on the last of the over-run expense vouchers and sat back, staring at his desk. Nice and clean, the way a marine should like it. Except that now he didn't have anything to distract him from the unpleasant contemplation of his lover's latest fit of pique.

No way around it; Fox Mulder was being a real sonofabitch.

There were a lot of advantages to having Mulder as a lover. He was brilliant, perceptive, sensitive, discreet, fascinating, and he had a swimmer's ass that felt like silk and gripped a man's cock like steel. Just the memory of it had Walter good and hard and craving the sweet feel of warm flesh parting under the head of his hard-on. And a memory was ALL he'd had for the last week and a half. Mulder was on a tear and nothing and no one was safe.

Especially not the poor bald bastard who had to sign off on his fucking 302! Fox's request for assignment had come in almost two weeks ago. Skinner cringed just thinking about it. He really should have known. A blown solenoid in his new Lexus should have alerted him--those sorts of things were always harbingers of bad news--but he'd still been in the Monday morning afterglow of a weekend's delectable company with the Foxling and hadn't been thinking past plans for the next Friday. Optimist.

The brief report on his desk had sent a small, shrill klaxon of alarm through the warm fuzz of satisfaction. A meteor shower in Arizona had presaged the fall of an object--large and showing on radar. That wasn't unheard of. The western states had more than their share of meteor craters. Getting squashed by space-junk was more likely than skin cancer out there. That and gila monsters and geriatric golfers were just the risks one took.

Except that this meteor hadn't left a calling card. Oh, it had hit. Grainy satellite photos clipped to the report showed a big, crawling military infestation around a blackened and unidentifiable shape, but attached to that was an FBI lab report that some johnny-on-the-spot must have thought would earn him a grade jump. Skinner wanted to see him jump, all right. Right off the Washington Monument! The report, with its squiggly-lined seismographic attachment, showed the impossible. At the time that the object had to have hit, instruments in California showed no anomalies. None. Zip. Zilch. That was when Skinner began to feel the hair crawl on his body. It was a warning flag to him.

To Mulder, it was a siren song.

Who knew how Mulder got hold of it. Maybe that little Pekinese of a lab rat, Pendrell, had used the report as an excuse to go make goo-goo eyes at Scully again. BY whatever route, Fox's 302 had hit Skinner's desk within the hour, and by half-past the crinkled, old, tar-stained prune had settled his butt into one of Skinner's leather chairs and smiled at the AD.

"I see you've got the morning mail."

"Get to the point. Small talk with you is like the idea of necking with Janet Reno."

"I'll have to tell her you said she was lovely, as always. Let's see if I have a touch of clairvoyance. Somewhere in your mail you'll have a 302 from the ever-inquisitive Agent Mulder, wanting to look into...hmm...possible 'terrorist activity' in nuclear waste sites in Arizona or some such. How am I doing so far?"

Skinner didn't have to glance down. The form was face down, but he remembered almost admiring Mulder's creativity in coming up with that excuse. Nicotine-stained teeth gleamed in a smile as his visitor read the direct hit in the AD's silence.

"Good. Good. I'm glad we don't have to waste time." The old spider sucked in long and hard, ostentatiously blowing the smoke out before leaning forward to grind the cigarette to death in the ash tray by the sign on Skinner's desk. "I really do hate to see a valuable and talented agent like Mulder waste his time on a trivial matter that others are already taking care of. Tell him so when you deny that 302 on your desk."

Skinner frowned, considering Mulder's likely response. Flipped the form over and wrote a note across the bottom, looking up to regretfully find his visitor still sitting across from him. He supposed a spontaneous heart attack was too much to hope for. The smile that greeted him had all the charm of a moray eel.

"Thank you, Walter. But I'm aware that Agent Mulder does have a rather--well--annoying habit of circumventing orders. Let me help you with this. There's a rather high-profile rape-murder of a Congressional aide that will be reported today. Assign Agent Scully to the autopsy, Agent Mulder to the case. You will express to them both how important this case is for the FBI's image in the wake of the Wagner trial. Do make certain that Agent Mulder gets all the assistance he needs. I think at least one more agent working with them should anchor him nicely. You also won't be able to approve any of his vacation requests until this is concluded.

Skinner stared, feeling his back get stiffer and stiffer. "Agent Mulder is not necessarily that easy to dissuade."

"Do your best, Walter. DC is so dangerous, with all the illiterate drivers we have. I would be dismayed were Agent Mulder to have a mild traffic incident or some other mishap. I know you'll manage." The old monster smiled and took his cigarettes from his pocket, lighting one slowly and deliberately. The AD sat, hands locked in front of him, fighting the urge to snap his neck until the shabby creature was gone and the door gently clicked shut behind him. Then he had looked down at Mulder's 302. And cringed at the idea of what Fox was going to say.

Almost two weeks later, his ears still stung at the memory of Fox's blow up. Thank God he'd told him after hours, or half the FBI would have heard Fox Mulder's opinion of "that tumorous sonofabitch and his whipped lap-dog." He'd hoped that Fox would have reconsidered and called to apologize, but the only exchanges they'd had since were occasional, nuclear-melt-down glares in the hall. The reports Mulder had filed on the Congressional Killer had been painful to read. Elegantly structured, logical, well-reasoned, and informative, but between the lines Skinner saw loaded phrases and a cold anger that left him feeling both furious at Mulder's selfish drive and frustrated that he had to keep blocking the agent.

In fact, he was feeling frustrated all around. Skinner's lover had a lot of wonderful, lovable qualities, but Fox Mulder in a full-blown hissy-fit was enough to make Skinner wonder why Scully didn't shoot the man more often. Whatever the case, there was one thing he'd learned about Mulder. The longer he let things simmer, the worse they'd be. Sighing, he steeled himself and reached for the phone, finger punching out the first three numbers of Mulder's extension. He hesitated, then punched the fourth, too.

"Mulder." The curt greeting put a thrill of dread and sexual desire up Skinner's back, as he pictured his lover in that comfortably beat-up leather chair, sleeves rolled up, light glinting off the reading glasses that always gave his eyes that wonderfully vulnerable look. Skinner licked his lips and tried to ignore the warm throb in his groin.

"Agent Mulder. Please report to my office in a half hour. I want to review your findings from the Demmings case and see how they relate to another case coming up."

There was dead silence for a five count. Skinner was almost surprised the phone didn't simply cut off. When he heard Mulder's voice he half wished it had. "With all due respect, sir, I don't have anything to say that's not in the report." (respect, my ass, thought Walter), "There's also that environmental pollution assignment I'm supposed to look into. I think the Post is calling him the Dismal Dumper," the words were ground out and the phone clicked off sharply. Skinner winced. Ohhh, yes. Fox was in a snit, all right.

Skinner threw himself back into his chair, arms crossed, brooding. Hard experience had taught him that Mulder wasn't likely to come out of this mood on his own. Let him go too long and Walter was going to be seeing another of those petulant little resignation notices left on his desk. The AD simmered, fuming. Mulder was being an ass. He was smart enough to know that Walter didn't have any choice in these matters, smart enough to know that Walter would be putting both their lives at risk to turn a blind eye. But Fox wasn't using his brain, he was thinking with his emotions and he always got screwed up when he did that. Mulder wasn't going to come to him, and Mulder wasn't going to calm down on his own.

That meant Skinner would have to go to Mulder.

Not that he hadn't already tried that. Saturday, with blue balls from a day of hard-ons every time he'd tried to call his lover and make up, Walter had finally driven over to Mulder's apartment and stood there, ringing the bell. When there'd been no answer, he'd fallen back on the same trick most of Mulder's visitors used, and picked the lock. The apartment wasn't ransacked. It also wasn't occupied. Phone calls hadn't found his wayward Foxling, but the rumor Monday morning had been that Fox had spent the weekend at the office, snapping at any intrusions. Skinner recalled an impressive pile of paperwork finished in impeccable handwriting, with pen strokes that almost dug through the paper. Not hard to picture Fox's state of mind.

And now it looked like the AD had another weekend of fantasies and cold sheets ahead of him. Another weekend of waiting for Fox to calm down and come to his senses. Skinner heard his teeth grind at the idea. Another weekend of waiting for Mulder to realize that the AD was stuck in the middle again, keeping the younger man from putting his cute little ass in the line of fire. If Fox wasn't over his snit by now, that wasn't likely to happen any time soon. Skinner scowled at the phone, replaying his stubborn lover's words and tone.

Stubborn. Understatement of the decade. Skinner might love the capricious little bastard, but when Mulder acted like a spoiled brat he just wanted to put the X-Files supervisor over his knee and spank him. He snorted at the idea. In parenting they'd call it discipline. In the marines, they'd call it being a sergeant. Skinner grinned ruefully. He hadn't been a sergeant, but as a lieutenant he'd learned a lot about how sergeants operated. And Mulder liked bondage, so maybe it was time to try a good old-fashioned spanking.

Now there was an image. Skinner felt his cock harden again at the scrumptious image of himself, sitting there, Mulder's hard abs flat over his knees and that delicious bottom pinked under his hand. God, and he had another lonely weekend ahead of him. He half-wished he'd never had that River Valley weekend. Fox had been a delight, but the weeks when they fought were hell. Damn it, and hell, he was NOT going to spend another weekend rattling around his big, empty house, wishing he heard another person there. Skinner shoved himself onto his feet so fast his chair hit the window frame behind him and glared at the phone. "Fox Mulder, if you won't come to me, I'll come for you."

\-------------------------------------------

Mulder scowled at the pictures on his desk. Dead gas station attendants, each one found in the remaining scraps of the Dismal Swamp, each body well-doused with fuel oil and set on fire. It might have looked more like environmental terrorism if the gas station tills hadn't been cleaned out and all the junk food removed at the same time. Mulder knew he could be wrong, but he was putting his money on a robbery gone bad, followed by a string of murders. He sighed and turned to his computer. Another dull, ordinary case out of the way. Before long he'd be investigating car theft rings while they tried to keep him away from the stuff that counted. It had to be one hell of a site out there in Arizona if they still needed to keep him pinned down after two weeks.

His fingers flew over the keyboard as his mind totally ignored what he was typing and tried to figure out how to get out to the great southwest. Family leave was out, since his mother was doing nicely, recuperating with friends in Connecticut. Mulder had no illusions that the instant he tried to pull that one THEY'D be following him, and he didn't have enough relatives left to divide their attention and let him slip the trap. And Walter'd never forgive him.

Hell, he wasn't sure he cared if Walter forgave him. The man claimed to love him, but obviously had no idea what these things meant to Mulder. Had no idea how much he needed to be out there, needed to see this thing. Another chance gone. Another chance to find Sam, to prove that the others were there--the invaders. Another chance to understand why his own family had been destroyed. Mulder needed that, and he'd thought Walter understood. Obviously, he was wrong.

The keyboard was rattling under his hands he was hitting it so hard. Loneliness and loss ached in his throat. He'd been so close, thought he'd finally found someone who really did care, really did love him, would understand. Would help. And now he was sitting in the basement of the FBI pounding out another report, telling idiots something they should have been able to see for themselves if they weren't too lazy or overworked or busy stuffing their heads with the latest sports statistics to look at the evidence in front of them. Mulder growled low in his throat, suddenly balling his fists and simply pounding on the edge of his desk. The pain blotted out the grief and loneliness that were choking him, and the dull sense that, once again, he'd had his trust betrayed.

He was breathing hard, staring blankly at the keyboard and its load of meaningless figures when he finally registered the sound of the elevator. Scully, coming back with dinner. He grimaced, feeling a twinge of guilt at how he'd treated her this last week. She'd been consistently cheerful and gentle with him, as though she really did understand what he was feeling. Once or twice, he'd almost wanted to tell her about Walter, tell her how much it hurt that the man who claimed to be his lover stopped him cold and yanked his leash. How much it hurt that Skinner--Walter--couldn't understand that Mulder didn't want this, Mulder needed this.

But he couldn't. He couldn't betray Skinner like that, and he couldn't stand how Scully might look at him. Oh, she'd be gentle and understanding, but....He shivered. He loved Scully. And thought she might love him. Walter certainly thought so. Somehow, telling her he was seeing someone else and it was their boss....Mulder shook his head and buried his face in his hands, throat tight as he thought of another weekend alone. He wouldn't go home. That was all. He'd rather work than go home, to his empty apartment, knowing that the man who claimed to be his lover would gladly fuck him, but wouldn't accept this one, painful, essential part of him. Mulder's head ached with the thought.

The elevator ground to a halt, and he sniffed and straightened up, shoving his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. With the fluorescents reflecting off them, she'd never see if his eyes were puffy. He sighed and turned back to his computer, erasing several paragraphs of nonsense as he heard the knob rattle. She must have changed out of herhigh heels, her feet had been so quiet in the hall. He glanced up as the door opened, summoning a faint imitation of a smile.

"Look, Scully, why don't you just go ho--" he trailed, staring. It wasn't Scully.

"Agent Mulder, I don't generally go to my agents, but in your case I can see I'll have to make an exception." Walter Skinner stepped into the office, pushing the door shut behind him.

Mulder scowled, leaning back in his chair. "I'd hate for you to have to put yourself out." He crossed his arms and glared.

"Mulder...Fox--"

"Don't even try, Walter!" Mulder found himself on his feet, leaning over his desk, glasses sliding down his nose. "I am trying to do my job and you're stopping me!"

"You are out of line, Agent Mulder." Skinner's voice had that marine-officer rap to it. "I was doing my job, too. And part of my job is managing what your office investigates."

"My office is investigating junk right now. I've been so careful not to use us to get what I want but god damn it, Walter! Isn't that exactly what you're doing to me? Using your job to yank my leash so I can't get hurt? What the HELL is that about?"

"Is that what you think is happening?" Skinner leaned back over Mulder's desk, so close Mulder could smell the coffee on his breath. He wanted to kiss Walter, wanted to apologize and feel this man's arms around him, be safe, be loved. But he needed the distance, needed that site in Arizona. Needed to make Skinner understand.

"Walter," he had to fight to keep his voice low, "you've told me over and over, how much I scare you. How you don't want me to take chances. But this isn't a chance, this is something I need to do."

"I can't. I have my orders and I can't."

"God DAMN IT!" Mulder lunged back, flipping papers and pens everywhere. A coffee cup tipped and spilled as Skinner backed away, face grimly angry. "Damn it, Walter. You and your fucking orders! You need to be in control of me, and they're in control of you. I don't take their orders!" He spun and glared. "I can't take this."

Skinner was watching him, face flushed and jaw set. As Mulder shoved past him one big, square hand flashed out and wrapped itself around the younger man's arm. "Where are you going, Fox?"

"Sick leave. I'm sick of this place. I'll be back when I'm feeling better." He tried to yank his arm away, glaring the inch or two up into his lover's face. "Let go!"

"Damn it, Fox." The hand tightened, held him still. Skinner kept his voice low, pulling Mulder back when he tried to reach for the knob.

"Let go!" Mulder suddenly shifted his weight, free foot sweeping to take Skinner's in a Quantico maneuver that would have made his teachers proud. Or should have, if it had ever been completed. Two seconds after he thought he had Walter down, Fox Mulder found his cheek pressed against the wall and the AD's arm locked under his jaw. He'd have to talk with the self-defense instructors about the flaws in their program.

"Agent Mulder, you are going to listen to me quietly and respectfully. Nod your head if you understand." Mulder knew that tone and knew he'd crossed a line. He nodded carefully. Skinner's voice was no longer calm and controlled. It simmered with an anger that Mulder had only begun to see in the months that Skinner had learned to trust him. "I'm only going to tell you this once, Fox. Don't ever accuse me of using my position that way again. There are a lot of things I'll do to protect you, but keeping you sidelined is not one of them."

Skinner spun him around, dizzyingly fast, holding him pinned to the wall by his upper arms. Mulder found himself looking up into sad, angry brown eyes. "I hate seeing you go into dangerous situations, but I'm damned if I'll let you accuse me of using my position against you. But I won't use it for you, either. I did exactly what I would have done before, and if you'd taken an instant to think about it you'd have realized that."

"With all due respect, Walter, that is bullshit! You denied my vacation and my leave and--"

"And I may have saved your life! All due respect, like hell! You, Agent Mulder, are a brat." Mulder found himself suddenly on the tips of his toes, half-dragged around his desk. He wasn't sure just how it happened, but an instant later Walter Skinner was sitting in his chair and Fox Mulder found himself face down over Skinner's legs, wind just about knocked out of him. An instant later he gasped as Walter's hand reached under his stomach, pulling his belt loose with practiced skill.

"What the hell are you doing!?!" Mulder squirmed, abs braced over the AD's big, muscular thighs, and tried to shove himself upright again. The grip on the back of his neck let go and two big hands wrapped around his wrists to twist them up behind him. The click of cold metal sent him thrashing wildly, hissing curses, until Walter's hand between his shoulder blades pinned him back down and the hand went back to pulling his belt off and unzipping his suit pants.

"What am I doing, Fox? You've been behaving like a brat, so I'm going to treat you like one."

"No!" The hand on the back of his pants didn't hesitate and Mulder bit his lip as his buttocks were suddenly bare, pants and boxers yanked down around his knees. "Walter, let me up."

"You've been a real SOB for just about two weeks, Fox." The voice was grimly satisfied. Mulder squirmed again as one square hand stroked his bottom and played with the balls hanging between his legs. "If you're going to be the enfant terrible of the FBI, then that's how I'll treat you. Maybe you'll feel more like listening when I've warmed you up."

"What are you--OW!" The big hand slapped down on his right buttock hard enough to leave a warm patch behind. It slapped down on his left and Mulder jumped again, teeth clenched against the yell this time. The hand slapped rhythmically, alternating sides.

"Fox," Walter's voice was conversational, if a little breathless. Mulder flinched as the hand slapped the skin right over his thigh, "you already know that there are...interests that don't want you investigating." There was a pause and Mulder heard a drawer pulled open. Swallowed hard.

"You call one of them Cancerman," the slap hit hard and narrow this time and Mulder jumped and squeaked. A hot band stung across both buttocks. "Hmm. The ruler really leaves a handsome mark, Agent Mulder. You've got one fine ass."

"Oh, god," Mulder moaned softly. The ruler slapped across his buttocks again, a little higher. He writhed at the warm, tingling sensation in his buttocks. Walter's cock was hard, poking into his side, and his own penis was rigid and pushing almost painfully into the AD's leg.

!SLAP! "You've always known my office took orders to stop your investigations," !SLAP! "and you've known it would have to happen sooner or later once we became involved." !SLAP! Mulder's ass was hot and, he was sure, bright red. !SLAP! He wriggled, feeling his anus puckering as he tried to pull away from the next !SLAP! "If we're going to keep seeing each other," !SLAP! Walter's voice was broken now, Mulder could hear him breathing hard, !SLAP! "then you'll have to accept that sometimes I'm going to have to stop you."

"Stop, please!" !SLAP! Mulder pulled his hips in and his cock jabbed against Walter's leg. The bound man groaned and squirmed, feeling his lover's hard-on probing into his ribs. "Stop it, Walter!"

"Are you going to act like," !SLAP! "an adult or--" He stopped. Mulder, breathless across his lap, lay still. A cool hand rested on one of his buttocks, squeezing gently and the big erection that had been poking into his side wilted. Then he heard a splashing thud and the smell of kung pao chicken wafted through the office. Oh god, oh no, oh lord, it was--

"Agent Scully?" He'd never quite heard Walter Skinner's voice squeak up the scale like that before. He knew just how his lover felt.

"Er, Sir?" Oh lordohlordohlord he could just SEE the look on her face. Mulder cringed, face as red as his bottom had to be.

"Um," the sound of the door slamming shut, and then high heels clicked as he lay there, face down over Assistant Director Walter Skinner's lap, bottom red and bare, and wondered what his lover thought he could say to get them out of this particular situation. A neat pair of Pappagallo heels--he knew they were Pappagallos because Scully had been bragging about getting them on sale--stopped on the floor. A pair of nyloned knees peeked out below a hemline right in front of his face and Mulder gulped.

"Uh," Walter didn't sound any more articulate, and Mulder wondered how they'd feel when the shock wore off. He wasn't looking forward to finding out. Right now he wished he knew what to say. Somehow, 'hi Scully, this isn't what it looks like' didn't have a lot to recommend it.

The left toe was tapping. He watched Scully's calf flex in front of his face. Skinner's hand on his butt felt huge. A small, cool finger suddenly touched him. "You missed a spot."

"What?" Mulder tried to crane up to see her face, winced as his neck pinched. Skinner's hand tightened convulsively on his buttock.

"Agent Scully, I don't believe I followed that."

"Well," she cleared her throat and Mulder thought he heard a smothered giggle. "Sir, I mean, look. You missed a spot. Right there. Here--"

!SLAP!

"OW! Goddamnit Scully!"

"Ooooh, I've wanted to do that for ages!" !SLAP!

"OW!"

"Agent Scully, I think that's enough!" Skinner sounded aghast.

"You haven't had to share an office with him for two weeks of this shit!" !SLAP!

"Agent Scully!" Mulder twisted, hearing the sudden laughter in Skinner's voice, "while I sympathize, the OPR might not agree."

"If you've been sleeping with him, sir, I should be able to spank him once in a while!" !SLAP! She was laughing too hard to really get him with that one but Mulder simply lay there, gasping like a fish while Skinner and Scully talked over his head.

"Agent Scully, that's a highly improper suggestion." The sober tone of Walter's voice was matched by the queasy feeling in the pit of Mulder's stomach.

"Oh, sir, of course you're sleeping together. I don't know for how long, but at least since you were shot."

"Scully?" Mulder tried to see her face, then she crouched down and suddenly he was looking into his partner's big, blue eyes. Perfectly calm, amused eyes.

"You didn't really think I couldn't tell you had a lover, did you Mulder? I know you better than that."

"How...why...?" He floundered for a moment, staring back into her eyes. Wishing his pants weren't around his knees and his hands weren't cuffed behind his back.

"Oh, Mulder," she reached out and ran the back of one finger down his cheek. "I want you to be happy. And," she giggled, "if getting spanked by the boss makes you happy, I'll watch the door. But this time, Ace, you owe me one too!" She grinned up at Skinner.

He felt Walter fumbling at his hands, and the cuffs released and fell off of him. His lover's hands were pulling his trousers back up, too, as Scully walked back to clean up some of the spilled food. Mulder straightened up, cheeks flaming red, to fasten his belt. She glanced up.

"Sorry I interrupted, Mulder. Sir. It looked like you were having quite a good time, sir." Mulder looked up, startled. Scully sounded wistful.

"Well, um," If Scully sounded wistful, Walter sounded mortified. "This really doesn't happen Agent Scully, I mean, I haven't, we haven't...ah..."

"We," Mulder hesitated, glanced at his lover. "We've been involved for a while, Scully. But not at work. Never in the office."

"I know." She sounded calm. "You've been very careful. It's amazing, really, that I didn't pick up on it before. I mean, I know you so well Mulder. I knew you had someone, but I didn't know it was the AD until I saw you at the hospital." She smiled up at him. "And, given the circumstances, I figure it made sense. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure no one else even has a clue. You're not the most obvious couple in the FBI." She grinned. "In fact, the rumor mill right now has the AD trying to keep you from quitting by getting you more on the social circuit. What are all those nights out with the VCU while I'm out of town, Mulder?"

"Oh, god. I knew I'd regret that." Mulder moaned, head tilting back.

Walter shook him gently by the scruff of the neck. "You work with a team, you go out with that team. Maybe the good habits will rub off on them, Fox."

"Long as that's all that rubs off."

"Scully," Walter had turned to the redhead and his face was suddenly serious. "It's obvious now that you've known for a while that we we're...involved. I know I don't really need to ask you, but...."

"Sir, I'll be discreet." She stood, face sober and concerned. "I know how this would affect you both, and I...." The wistful look was back. "Well, I care about you both. I really want you to be happy. I hate seeing the two of you as miserable as you've been. And you did deserve that spanking, Mulder." The Irish impishness in her eyes told him a lot about where leprechauns came from. "I just. . . I want to see Mulder happy, sir. And you make him happy."

Mulder's stomach was doing flip-flops at the look on her face. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her and see her smile over her whole face. He swallowed and fidgeted, feeling Walter looking back and forth between the two of them.

"I know just exactly how you feel, Agent Scully. More than I think you realize. Look, there's something I want you to do for me, all right?" Mulder watched him study the redhead, watched her puzzled look back.

"All right." She nodded.

"Tomorrow's Friday, Scully. I want you to come to dinner. And bring a change of clothes."

"Fri...din--...change?" She looked at Mulder, and he saw the puzzlement clear on her face as he felt it clear on his own. Her lips and his, at the same time, shaped the sound, "Oh...oh?...OH!"

Walter Skinner looked between the two of them and a warm glow swelled in his chest. And his cock. It was gonna be one GREAT weekend!

Finis


End file.
